It's A Wonderful War
by Blind Squirrel
Summary: AU-Yaoi-Historical SOON TO BE COMPLETE It's WW2, and Duo's Squadron is shot down over Japan. Taken as a POW, Duo faces some harsh realities about the enemy. 1X2X1
1. Chapter One

Title: It's a Wonderful War  
  
Author: Sony_Mouse  
  
Pairings:1+2  
  
Warnings: Angst, violence, ignorance, hatred, (you know, stuff war brings), AU, language, and SHOUNEN-AI  
  
Disclaimer: GW not mine, WW2 not mind, but the story is mine.  
  
Archives: All my other fics can be found at www.gwaddiction.com, why not go read em? If you would like to archive be my guest :)  
  
Author's Note: I'm rewriting this fic right now out of a sense of guilt. For a long time I kept promising to write the final chapter and just... never did. This story is finally being rewritten because of all those out there who kept pestering me for it, and have done the impossible, led me back to a lost fic of mine. All my notes, and a good deal of my original ideas for this fic have now been lost due to time, and moving over the last year. The only thing I want to make clear is that although I've tried to make this fic as accurate as possible, it's not perfect history, or by any means close to it, no matter how much I wish it were. But it was originally written with that intent in mind, and now as I rewrite it, I'm hoping to fix those mistakes I gave up on so long ago. I've lost MANY readers with the wait, but I hope those few who have stuck around will still be interested in reading this fic. Thank you.  
  
Do NOT take any of the insults seriously; I tried to write it from the perspective of people who were not as politically correct as we are today.   
  
  
  
It's a Wonderful War by Sony_Mouse  
  
  
  
  
  
Part One  
  
"Let your rapidity be that of the wind, your compactness that of the forest.  
  
In raiding and plundering be like fire, is immovability like a mountain.  
  
Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt." [6:19] - THE ART OF WAR  
  
Date: March 1945, nearing the end of World War 2...  
  
Place: Undisclosed Location in waters outside of Japan...  
  
  
  
Taking a deep breath of the fresh, salty air, Duo Maxwell walked onto the aircraft carrier in awe. He had just been posted to the carrier a few days ago and was thrilled to be getting a glimpse of its high tech aircrafts and elite crew.  
  
It was WAR! And Duo would finally get do the thing he loved most in the world, being paid to fly.  
  
He could see anticipation for battle in the eyes of every young man aboard the mighty carrier. In some, it held a sort of wide eyed innocence that could only come from someone who'd finally made the age restrictions and joined up as soon as he could to get a piece of the action before it was all gone. In others, it was a bored look of someone who'd been ready to give up his life at a moments notice, and had been denied again and again due to delays and changes in battle plans. But they were still ready to get out there and fight.  
  
However in most, the look betrayed a deep sense of loss revenge. These were the men who'd somehow managed to defy the odds and survived countless missions in the air. The ones who had watched every single one of their training buddies die ten times over, just to get a new batch of inexperienced, under qualified pilots who managed to get themselves killed at an even quicker rate. These were the men who wanted to see blood spilt in the worst way.  
  
It was war! And like every other wet-behind-the-ears pilot, Duo was reading to kick some ugly cowardly Japanese ass.  
  
Folding his arms and nodding his head in approval, Duo felt a friendly arm clasp him on the shoulder.  
  
"Don't just stand there with your mouth open, you might catch some flies." Duo spun around and stared at the older pilot with as much awe as he could muster.  
  
" You're Captain Solo!"  
  
"Gee kid, looks like you're one of the smart ones. You managed to get ALL that info from reading my rank and nametag alone."  
  
Duo just continued to shake his head in denial.  
  
"No... no sir!" He managed to gracefully stutter. "I've known about you before I even started to train. I've heard nothing but great things about the invincible Captain Solo, and I just want you to know that I'm ready to shoot the enemy and am honored to be in your squadron."  
  
"Well shucks kid, you'll make me blush. You're young, have good taste, and I like you already, which is never a good thing in war. But I must ask... what the hell is up with you're hair?"  
  
"Military regulation sir, I'm allowed to keep it long if it's for a religious purpose."  
  
"And is it?"  
  
"Yes sir, it is."  
  
"Can you even fit your helmet on with that ridiculous hair?"  
  
"YES sir! The braid just fits under my flight suit."  
  
"Well that's... great." Reaching down into his uniform pocket, Captain Solo pulled out a sore looking cigarette and worse looking lighter. Preparing to get all the nicotine he could into his body before he went up for another flight, and Roosevelt only knew when that could be. "It's ok, I read the report on you, don't worry, I won't make you cut it. Now just let me make a few things clear."  
  
Staring up at the tall brown haired officer, Duo nodded in excitement. "First of all, don't make too many friends, we're pilots, and we're walking dead. In fact, avoid learning their names if you can, it'll just make it harder on you. Second, those Japs out there aren't some wimpy target practice, they know how to shoot just as good, if not better than you new pilots do, plus they ain't afraid to die, and neither should you be."  
  
Duo started to look a bit confused and stared questionably at the Captain. "But I was told we were winning the war at this point? Aren't the Japs using their last resources by now?"  
  
"Sure kid, whatever. That may be true, then again it may not be. I'm not told everything over here in the middle of nowhere, but one's things for sure; the Japs aren't on their last legs quite yet. I just lost more than half of my best pilots in my last meeting with them. Hell, that's why they flew your sorry ass up here."  
  
Duo nodded to show he understood what was being said, but nothing could be further from the truth.  
  
"Now then! Rule number one in my squadron, NEVER underestimate the enemy, it makes you cocky, and you end up dead real quick. Rule number two, watch your own ass, we'll do our best to help you, but there will be times when we have to fight to survive and have no time to help you out. Rule number three, ALWAYS listen to my orders, this ain't no academy and things are different out here, you wanna live, then listen to the people who have survived this long. Is that all clear so far?"  
  
"Yes sir!" Though Duo's once confident voice had subdued somewhat by now.  
  
"Now get some sleep, we're expecting to head out in three hours. Oh, and that's rule number four. 'Why stand when you can sit? Why sit when you can lie? Why lay when you can sleep?' Whenever there's a chance to rest, you rest. Got it?"  
  
"Yes sir... but I just got here sir. I haven't even unpacked yet. I don't even know where to sleep!"  
  
Solo smirked slightly at the new pilot's naïve response before taking another long puff from his almost dead cigarette. "How old are you?"  
  
"Ummm 18, sir."  
  
"And don't you just look it, you're nothing but a baby face. I won't say you remind me of myself, cause that's a lie, but you do remind me of the good folks back home, and I hope they stay just as damn naïve as you are. I wouldn't have it any other way. But I'm afraid to say that the war waits for no man, we go out when we go out, but if it'll make you feel better, I will personally watch your back. I like you kid, you've got this innocence to you that I don't' want to see you lose, no matter how much I know you will. Now get some God damn sleep before I have to drug you, cause you might not be getting any damn sleep for at least another year."  
  
Duo smiled up at his long time idle and saluted with the most amount of respect he could show before heading over to his sleeping quarters and getting some ordered sleep.  
  
Yet despite all of what the Captain had said, Duo still felt like nothing could kill him, he would prove to the Captain that Duo Maxwell was the best damn pilot they had, and not even some dirty underhanded Jap was going to shoot his bird out of the sky. Feeling even better than when he'd arrived, Duo slowly drifted off to sleep.   
  
  
  
Duo was rudely awakened by the sound of a loud siren. His only thought before he fell out of his temporary cot was that it was finally time to attack. Dumping the contents of his duffel bag onto the floor, Duo quickly found what he was looking for and jumped into his flight suit as fast as he could, fully aware that the planes were going to take off any minute now. Looking up at a clock, he realized only one hour had passed since he'd gone to bed and wondered briefly if it really was time to go up, or was this some kind of drill?  
  
Running to the top deck, Duo quickly found Captain Solo and was briefed on the attack plan, giving more details then they'd allowed before. The squadron was going to attack some part of mainland Japan with a swift blitzkrieg.  
  
"Captain, I thought you said we would attack in three hours?"  
  
"Like I said kid, the war waits for no man, if we wait any longer, the Japs will know what we are up to, if they don't already. Now lets get this show on the road."  
  
"Wait, which plane is mine?"  
  
Solo did a quick scan of the area before spotting a sorry looking mess of a plane. "That one."  
  
"But-but, can that even fly?"  
  
"Oh sure kid, not only can it fly, but it's survived the longest out of all our planes. It's been shot down 3 times, and each time we've always been able to retrieve it."  
  
"And the pilots?'  
  
"Twice, either way that Death Scythe over there is one lucky craft. But now's not the time to talk about history, let's go!"   
  
  
  
Buckling into the aircraft, Duo prayed to any God that would listen that his plane would actually take off in one peace. He watched as each pilot revved the engine took off in succession. Soon enough it was his turn to go up, and Duo did so with out a second thought.  
  
Once in the air, it wasn't long before they reached mainland. Over the intercom, Duo could hear various orders being given, and was just itching to get the chance to bomb the target. As soon as he heard the order to attack, Duo let loose with all he had.  
  
He could here the cries of happiness form the other experienced pilots over the radio, and wondered how long they'd been doing this for.  
  
"Pilot 02, pilot 02, get ready, the Japs are starting to retaliate, and they look pissed." Looking to the side, Duo could see incoming aircrafts, and started to aim towards his sworn enemy.  
  
Just as he was about to shoot, he could feel his plane take a few small hits. None seemed to make him lose control, but it did work as a reminder that his life was on the line.  
  
Bringing his attention back to the target at hand, he could just make out Solo's voice over the radio, telling them in no uncertain terms that this was the drop-off point. As if on cue, dozens of bombs dropped in union from the allied planes, it gave Duo the impression of the planes being nothing more than rain clouds, and the bombs being nothing more than harmless water falling towards the dusty ground.  
  
"02, watch out, the ground also has anti-aircraft weapons and aren't afraid to use them."  
  
"Acknowledged!" Flying lower, Duo swept dangerously low to the ground forces, and swept by in a flurry of bullets. The sound of metal hitting metal was music to his ears.  
  
Reentering a more secure air space, Duo rejoined his fighting comrades, many of whom he still didn't know. Duo noticed that four planes were already missing, they had been shot down near the beginning of the onslaught, but the Japs weren't doing much better, in fact they were already starting to lose the air battle.  
  
"Target Secured! Return to home NOW, no time for games." Duo was about to comply when he spotted a few more Jap planes trying to cover his tail. Deciding to ignore his orders, Duo flew straight at them, dodging the oncoming bullets. He was able to shoot down one of the enemy planes, but the other still stayed locked on him. Seeing little way out, Duo tried to maneuver himself away from the plane, but it was of no use.  
  
"02, you damn idiot!" Coming from above, Duo was more than happy to see his Captain take aim at the enemy and shoot down the remaining plane on his tail.  
  
"GREAT SHOT! Thanks for the help." Duo replied enthusiastically.  
  
"02, enough funny business, let's get the hell out..." the transmission was abruptly cut off as Duo watched in horror as Solo's plane was blown up by a new Japanese plane still in the air.  
  
"YOU FUCKING JAPANESE BASTARD!" Duo could not believe what he'd just witnessed. There was no way Solo could be dead. All Duo could now see was red as he watched the rest of his squadron being shot down one by one as the new wave of Japanese planes took them by surprise. He tried unsuccessfully to get in another kill, but there were just too many of them.  
  
He knew it was the end when he felt his tail being shot to hell by one of the enemy aircrafts. Duo prayed a thousands times, as his ship quickly began a tailspin and time seemed to stand still.  
  
All Duo could think of were Solo's last words. It was his fault for not listening to orders that Solo was dead, NO, it was those bastard Jap's fault! He hated them now more than he could ever had imagined before. He wanted to send each one of them into the worst possible hell.  
  
But in the end it was still him who was going to crash into the earth any second. It was him that was really going to go to hell, and that just made him hate them all the more.  
  
As the impact of the landing hit Duo, everything went blank. This plane itself skidded across a forest, churning anything in it's path, before abruptly crashing into some stronger trees, and leaving it's new pilot for dead  
  
.  
  
Unfortunately for Duo, he wasn't dead, and three hours later, he proved this by slowly opening his eyes. Moaning as pain rushed over him like a wave on his fragile and beat up body. He could almost make out the surrounding items. He was in... a cockpit. that had tress around it... or in it.  
  
His senses suddenly seemed to be magnified. He could make out the sounds of birds chirping, cool wind chilling the moist blood dripping down his forehead, and something else that must be moving in the bushes near by.  
  
Trying to move himself, Duo found he couldn't even lift his arms without feeling instantly dizzy and nauseous. He felt a head rush as he moved his head to the side, and almost yelped when he found himself staring into the coldest and most deadly eyes he had every dared look upon.  
  
He would have screamed, but the soldier, obviously Japanese, had other plans. Without even a warning gesture, the soldier smashed the butt of his gun hard onto the top of Duo's head, causing him to pass out from the blow.  
  
The forest seemed to quiet as the American's head slumped forward into unconsciousness.   
  
TBC...  
  
Gee, Can you guess who the soldier was?? Just a few notes for you guys,  
  
The Hair thing is true; you can't make them cut their hair if it is for religious purposes.  
  
When I first wrote this way back I loved writing Solo's character for some reason. When I was editing it I thought to myself "Gee... that sounds like I'm talking about Han Solo from Star Wars... I'm not. I'm talking about Solo from Duo's oh so sorted past.  
  
Comments? Questions? Queries? CORRECTIONS (Historically I mean) Please send them all to me at SONY_MOUSE@HOTMAIL.COM  
  
MUST... HAVE... COMMENTS (even though this is my rewrite) 


	2. Chapter two

Title: It's A Wonderful War 2/9  
  
Author: Sony_Mouse (Sony_Mouse@hotmail.com), but if it's really bad then it is someone else.  
  
Pairings: 1+2+1  
  
Warnings: AU (OUR universe), Angst, young, ignorant and propaganda full Duo, shounen-ai.  
  
Disclaimers: Not mine, GW is the property of sunrise I think, and the phrase "World War Two" was actually coined by and belongs to National Geographic (bet ya didn't know that.)  
  
Archives: All my other stories are at www.gwaddiction.com, but if you would like to have my story, just tell me  
  
Author's Note: I originally wrote this fic when I had come out of the movie (and I use this term lightly) Pearl Harbor. (If you want to know what happened in those events, I recommend the classic movie Tora! Tora! Tora! (Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!). Anyways, I stopped writing this fic after the event of 9-11 last year, thinking no one would want to read a war story. Then never got around to. Then now, a year later, and after 9-11, I've started it up again because I feel the message (I know... I'm too preachy) but the message of my fic holds true now more then it did a year ago.  
  
I apologize in advance for Duo's frame of mind, but keep in mind he is upset, new to war, filled with all the propaganda you get during a World War, and probably scared shitless, so give him a break please.  
  
  
  
Japanese note: Don't know Japanese, so Heero's Japanese is just English with * around it   
  
It's A Wonderful War by Sony_Mouse  
  
  
  
  
  
Part Two  
  
"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.  
  
For he today that sheds his blood with me  
  
Shall be my brother; be ne'er so vile,  
  
This day shall gentle his condition.  
  
And gentlemen in England now abed  
  
Shall think themselves accursed they were not  
  
here,  
  
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks  
  
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."  
  
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English dramatist, poet. King Henry, in King Henry V, act 4, sc. 3.  
  
Trying to move himself, Duo found he couldn't even lift his arms  
  
without feeling instantly dizzy and nauseous. He felt a head rush as  
  
he moved his head to the side, and almost yelped when he found  
  
himself staring into the coldest and most deadly eyes he had every  
  
dared look upon.  
  
  
  
He would have screamed, but the soldier, obviously Japanese, had  
  
other plans. Without even a warning gesture, the soldier smashed the  
  
butt of his gun hard onto the top of Duo's head, causing him to pass  
  
out from the blow.  
  
  
  
The forest seemed to quiet as the American's head slumped forward  
  
into unconsciousness.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
By the time Duo finally came around he noticed only three things about his situation; one, the light was fading so it must be sunset, two, he was hurt, and three, there was a gun poking quite painfully into the back of his skull.  
  
Duo tried to move around so he could get a good look at his captor, but let out a cry as the gun was jabbed even more firmly into his head.  
  
Despite the pain, Duo managed to let out an angry snarl. "So you're going to kill me aren't you? Or maybe perform some kind of torture on me? I expect nothing less from a savage like you. I bet you won't even bother to take me out of this cockpit! I don't care, I'll at least be dying in something American."  
  
Duo wasn't sure if the man behind him could even speak English, but he might have understood something, cause he smacked Duo lightly with the gun as if to warn him to stop talking. He then proceeded to slowly walk around to face him, never letting the aim on his rifle waver for a second.  
  
* "DAMARE!"*  
  
Duo jerked his head up in surprise at the venom spoken in the strange foreign words. What right did this ass have to be angry with him? He was the one who got shot down.  
  
"Sorry pal, but I don't speak that gibberish you seem to call a language. Try learning English, the international language, then get back to me."  
  
The Japanese soldier glared daggers at his prisoner before continuing.  
  
*"IMA DAMARE!"*  
  
Duo would have replied with another smart-ass comment, but he suddenly felt very dizzy from the exertion of talking, and once again slumped forward in his chair.  
  
His voice was much weaker the next time he spoke.  
  
"Listen, kill me or don't... just make up your mind."  
  
To Duo's surprise the Japanese soldier laid his gun down on the aircraft to help the dizzy boy. By tugging at his restraints, the soldier attempted to free Duo from the cockpit in one swift movement. This only resulted in getting the young pilot panic. Making him struggle and scream loudly from the pain.  
  
*" SUWATTE! Soshite tetsudatte ageru!"*  
  
Duo didn't understand a word of what was being spoken, but felt they were something along the lines of telling him not to scream or move. Either way it irritated Duo to be told what to do by the enemy, so he continued to struggle even more despite the pain it caused.  
  
Having enough, the Japanese soldier jumped down and grabbed a small piece of wood, which he then jammed roughly it into Duo's open mouth. It would allow Duo to concentrate on biting down on the wood and ignore the pain just a little bit. At the same time, it would make it easier for the soldier to free him.  
  
As he was manhandled a bit more, Duo bit down with all his might.  
  
The moment that his arms were free, he wrapped them around the Japanese man for support. His mind was clouded over with so much by pain he forgot who he was dealing with. .  
  
It only took a few more minutes to finally become free of the cockpit, but it was the longest few minutes of Duo's young life. The last tug pulled him free and caused him to stumble to the ground, landing hard on top of the enemy soldier.  
  
He was quickly pushed off, landing even harder against the ground. Every movement was painful, so instead of inspecting his wounds, he fell back to the ground, enjoying the feel of having his legs stretched out.  
  
*"Daijoubu?"*  
  
"Why the fuck did you do that? I was going to die an American! And on American property!"  
  
*"Moshi shinunara, ima koko de teki no ryou do de shine!"*  
  
"What are you saying? Are you going it get it over with yet?"  
  
"*Baka.*"  
  
"I don't need this fun suspense, just kill me already!"  
  
"*DAMARE!*" The soldier glared dangerously at the fallen boy before picking himself off the ground and rushing over to Duo's side to kneel down beside him. Once there he started to assess the damage by lightly moving his hands over the American's legs.  
  
"HEY! Get your slimy hands off of me. I don't mind dying, but the last thing I want is to be raped by a Jap. I should've known you would do this though. You're about as predictable as they said you'd be."  
  
The Japanese soldier seemed to flinch slightly at the accusations before grabbing a hold of Duo's braid and slamming it into his open mouth.  
  
"*DAMARE!*" Using the American's shock to his advantage, the Japanese soldier quickly and painfully snapped Duo's leg back into it's normal position. Watching carefully as Duo bit down onto his braid while he screamed, before spitting it out afterwards.  
  
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! You bastard. You set my leg, didn't you? What the hell is this? One-minute you're trying to kill my comrades and trying to kill me, the next you're setting my leg. You're more messed up than I ever could have imagined." It was at this exact moment that the soldier decided to pull tightly on the bandage he'd been trying to bind around Duo's broken leg.  
  
"Damn it! Why don't you just break it again? Or is that the plan all along?"  
  
The soldier just gave another sharp painful tug, as if to say "I'll break both you're legs if you don't shut up this instant". It was only then that Duo realized that the enemy had tied his leg with strips of the Japanese's own t-shirt. The one he must have worn under his uniform.  
  
"Get these disgusting rags off of me, it's a disgrace for an American pilot to be wearing anything belonging to a filthy Jap."  
  
Ignoring whatever complaint the American might have issued, the soldier quietly continued his assessment of the damages. Duo could only stare at him with a wide worried look in his eyes. The Japanese soldier soon found that his prisoner not only had a broken leg, but was also in no shape to be moved. If he wanted him alive, he would have to camp out there with him for the next few days. Only then would he be able to leave here and get back in touch with his unit to turn the war criminal in.  
  
Standing up to brush the dust off his shirt, the soldier gave a quick command before leaving to get some work done. *" Suwatte... Damare... ka... Omae O Korosu."*  
  
Watching as his captor walk away, Duo started to think about how he could possibly escape. The problem was he couldn't. He had a broken leg, and the Jap knew it. Plus, even if he could escape, he was in Japan! There was nowhere he could run to.  
  
The Japanese soldier himself was a bit of a mystery. It surprised Duo that he hadn't tried to kill him, he had even helped him, but as far as Duo was concerned this could only mean more trouble. The soldier must be trying to gain his trust, or heal him so he could later be tortured. Why else would a Jap help him out?  
  
Throughout the next hour, the Japanese soldier came and went several times, each time bringing back wood for a fire and supplies from some mysterious source. After he had successfully started a fire under the broken wing of Duo's aircraft, he then started to prepare some dinner.  
  
Walking over to the unnaturally quiet American, he picked him up without asking permission, ready to bring him closer to the fire.  
  
"Put me down you dirty Jap!" Trying to contain his anger, the Japanese man quickly dropped his burden onto the ground with a loud thud. Smirking as the pissed-off American tried to sit up against the plane in considerable pain, he then walked away to prepare some food.  
  
"You bastard, you did that on purpose! And you fixing my leg was all just some sneaky plan to make me tell you why we were bombing you in the first place, wasn't it?"  
  
While opening a few cans for food, the Japanese just scoffed at the American. *"Woogeemu, ne?"*"  
  
Once again Duo had no idea what the man had said, but he was sure it held a large amount of sarcasm in it.  
  
"Don't you talk to me like that. I just hope you know that Japan's going to lose this war, and when the Americans come here looking for me, and find you, you are one dead Jap. Which is the only good kind of Jap."  
  
*"Damare Bakayaro!"* Before Duo could respond the young man walked around the fire and took out a knife. Duo was positive that the man was going to stab him, but to his great surprise the soldier started to rip away at his flight suit.  
  
The suit was all torn up and reeked of blood, but underneath Duo still had on perfectly good combats. The American didn't know what to say, but was even more amazed when he received a blanket around his cold shoulders.  
  
*"Kan'ya des"*  
  
"Yeah is that so? We'll I may be weak but I'll kick you're ass if you try anything funny."  
  
*"Douitashimashite"*  
  
"Yeah, yeah." It slowly started to rain all around them. However, the soldier had chosen shelter wisely underneath the broken wing of the allied plane.  
  
Duo was watching the rain so intently, he jumped when the Japanese soldier picked up one of the cans and handed it to the startled young man. He tried to grab the can several times, but was still too weak from the crash, apparently only his mouth was in good working order.  
  
The soldier sighed at the sight before making the decision to feed the American himself. Taking a bit of the contents out of the can with some military issue chopsticks he had on him, he attempted to feed his annoying prisoner.  
  
Duo turned his head away from the chopsticks like a baby might, scared of not only the food, but also the utensils.  
  
"What the hell is that? Are you trying to poison me? And just what kind of mutated fork-knife is that?"  
  
Not talking any lip from his prisoner, the soldier pulled Duo's head back by his braid and force-fed him the food.  
  
"Yuck, couldn't you have just shot me, this is horrible..." Another mouthful of food interrupted his rant.  
  
When he was done eating, the Japanese soldier gave the prisoner an evil smirk before moving to the other side of the fire to replenish the wood.  
  
Duo tried to deal with the silence as best he could, but every time he wasn't talking he was left with thoughts of what the Japanese man could do to him. It was better to just talk then have to deal with his imagination.  
  
Looking up at his captor, he noticed that the man was silently observing him. It was strangely unnerving. The enemy soldier had surprisingly dark brown hair instead of jet black, as Duo assumed all Japanese had. And Duo wasn't sure in the bad light, but he swore that the young man's eyes might be the color of blue. But that could just be the lights playing tricks on his eyes.  
  
Deciding there had been enough silence, Duo tried to strike up a conversation.  
  
"So... killed many Americans before?"  
  
"Hn." The soldier just rolled his eyes and continued to watch the fire.  
  
"I see you're not the talkative one... 'cept when you're yelling at me. That's ok, I'll do the talking for both of us."  
  
The soldier ignored him and threw another log unto the fire.  
  
"So what's your name? Mine's Duo, no harm in telling you that. I believe that's one of the three pieces of info I'm allowed to give you, or supposed to give you... or something. You can just read my name tags, which I've noticed I no longer have with me, which means you must have them."  
  
"Hai."  
  
"Look!" Waving his hands in the air, he started to point to himself." ME DUO, DUO D-U-O." Pointing to his captor he emphasized his words. " You are? ME Duo. YOU?"  
  
The soldier looked at the American pilot like was a complete and total idiot, which is pretty much he felt at the moment. *"Baka."*  
  
"Baka, well it's an ok name I guess, for a Jap. Nice to meet you Baka, now are you going to kill me?"  
  
The other soldier had had enough and glared once again at the American prisoner before responding in a much more familiar language. "Only if you want me to. And my name is Heero, *You* are the Baka, not me." The heavily accented, yet still very good English was followed by complete silence for at least ten minutes afterwards. Finally Duo found enough muster to yell back.  
  
"You fucking speak English? All this time I've been insulting you, and you understood? Why the hell would you do that?"  
  
Heero shrugged his shoulders and answered truthfully. "It allowed me to learn things about you, and I hoped it would mean I didn't have to talk to you."  
  
"You're a Jap! How the hell did you learn English? Are you some sort of spy?"  
  
"No, I learned it by reading books and listening to the radio. Your language isn't that difficult."  
  
"B-but I thought you Japs didn't know any English."  
  
"That may have been your false assumption, but you were wrong... as usual."  
  
"Now listen here, you may be the one in charge, for the time being, but when my..."  
  
"Your what? Your squadron gets here, the one that was shot down? You are the only survivor, and if you don't start being quiet, you won't even be that lucky."  
  
"I'd rather die than spend another minute with a dirty Jap like yourself."  
  
"I bet you would, but you're not in charge here, I am. And I want you alive!"  
  
"I don't care what you want! You can torture me, rape me, do what you like. I'll never tell you anything."  
  
"That's cause you have nothing to tell. You are only a lowly officer, if even that."  
  
"OH, and I suppose you know our ranks now?"  
  
"They aren't that hard to learn, or have you not learned them yourself yet?" Flustered, Duo growled back.  
  
"I-I know my own ranks you stupid Jap, I just don't know yours."  
  
"Hn."  
  
"Hn, that's all you got to say. Can you at least tell me what you're planning to do with me?"  
  
"I'm not taking you to a camp."  
  
Duo was unnerved by the serious tone in which the Japanese soldier had responded. "So you are planning to kill me, or torture me."  
  
"No."  
  
"Then what?"  
  
"You do not need to know, so I won't tell you."  
  
"Well don't we sound mature. Well why don't we leave now?"  
  
"You are injured."  
  
"So."  
  
"So, you would not be able to survive the journey without some healing."  
  
"Why would you care?"  
  
"I don't, but my superiors might. Now go to sleep and recover, I don't wish to speak to you anymore!"  
  
"You're ordering me to recover. What if I don't want to?"  
  
"It's not your choice, I will make sure that you live."  
  
"Fine, be that way, just don't be surprised if I wake up dead."  
  
"I'm never that lucky."  
  
"Yeah, yeah. G'night." Duo didn't really want to sleep around the Japanese soldier, but unfortunately his body did. It was exhausted and just needed to get some rest. Leaning back softly, Duo was asleep in no time.  
  
Heero on the other hand stayed awake to make sure that his prisoner survived the first night uninjured by keeping him warm by the fire. As soon as he was sure that the young man was fast asleep, he walked over and quietly laid the blanket over Duo so that it would cover the boy's whole body, thereby letting no warmth to escape.  
  
He already felt uncomfortable keeping the American alive, knowing it was a risk, and almost wished he had just killed the pilot as soon as he had crashed. But when he had looked down at the unconscious figure still in the cockpit, he knew he couldn't kill him. The American looked just like a kid, so young. He didn't look like someone capable of killing women or children, even if he had. Besides the Americans would prize the young pilot, and would want to trade some Japanese soldiers for the boy.  
  
Looking down at the sleeping figure, Heero truly wondered if he had made a mistake. But all he had to do was look over at that suspiciously innocent looking face and he knew he wasn't going to let the boy die.  
  
Yet the boy deserved to die, he had killed so many women... children... all from his quick air raid. It was a very dishonorable act. But somehow the young pilot lying asleep in front of him seemed to carry no guilt for his actions, only bitterness.  
  
Maybe that was the price to pay when you were forced to fight so young. If anything, Heero could understand that.  
  
"On becoming soldiers we have not ceased to be citizens."  
  
Address , "Humble Representation," 1647, to the English Parliament by Oliver Cromwell's soldiers.   
  
TBC...  
  
Okay, just to say, Heero has a VERY different perspective on killing cause he is a foot soldier, he sees the people he kills. Duo, on the other hand is a pilot, and never sees his target, he doesn't even KNOW what he bombed, cept that he was told to bomb it. SO if it was, say, a small town making weapons, he would bomb it, no matter who was down there. I recently read an interview with a pilot who was one the people who carpet bombed Dresden. They had been told they were bombing some military facilities. Not an extremely old city full of mostly old men, women and children.  
  
Ah War... the things you do to us.  
  
ANYWAYS. COMMENTS. PLEASE! I need to know if these edits are improving the story or just making it worse  
  
Sony_Mouse@hotmail.com 


	3. chapter three

Title: It's a Wonderful War  
  
Author: Sony_Mouse (Sony_Mouse@hotmail.com)  
  
  
  
Pairings: 1+2+1  
  
  
  
Warnings: AU, History (ha ha ha I get to warn you about history, angst, Shounen-Ai, language and insults (which in no way express what I feel for the Japanese, they are purely what a propaganda filled under stress war pilot might think.)  
  
  
  
Disclaimer: GW not mine, WW2 is... not mine either, lucky for me History isn't copyrighted. Info about names, places, people and history are taken from James Clavell's Shogun (the BEST book about Japan...ever), Author Golden's Memoirs of A Geisha, David Mak's Kabuki, and from Misa.  
  
  
  
Archives: If you or your friend would like to read a fic of MINE, or previous parts to this fic, then for one low low price YOU CAN. Just drop on by at www.gwaddiction.com, where everybody knows your name (well not really). All proceeds go to the "Feed the Rich" foundation :P  
  
  
  
Author's TITLE note: In my original version I had complained about all the flames I got about my title, but since then I've never gotten a flame, nor even a mention about it. So I'm not going to rant about it. I love the irony of my title, and we'll just leave it at that. :)  
  
Author's THANKS note: I just want to thank two VERY, VERY nice people, Katu and Misa. They have gone out of their way to not only translate part 2 for me (I'll repost my edited versions of part 1 and 2 when it's done), but Misa has taken the time to explain to me more about the Japanese mentality and a few events. I hope this will make my story a lot more realistic while still interesting. THANK YOU   
  
It's A Wonderful War by Sony_Mouse  
  
  
  
  
  
Part Three  
  
" You can't say that civilization don't advance. For in every war they kill you in a new way. Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)  
  
  
  
"History is written by the hangman" - Anonymous  
  
Looking down at the sleeping figure, Heero truly wondered if he had made a mistake. But all he had to do was look over at that suspiciously innocent looking face and he knew he wasn't going to let the boy die.  
  
Yet the boy deserved to die, he had killed so many women... children... all from his quick air raid. It was a very dishonorable act. But somehow the young pilot lying asleep in front of him seemed to carry no guilt for his actions, only bitterness.  
  
Maybe that was the price to pay when you were forced to fight so young? If anything, Heero could understand that.  
  
  
  
Before dawn even began to form, Heero was awake and ready to leave the American prisoner to go have a bath. He knew that the American wasn't going anywhere with that broken leg, and trusted that as long as he remained asleep he was behaving himself.  
  
Walking only a short distance from the camp, he came upon a small body of water lay hidden by the trees. Although it was still war, Heero, and his people, felt adamant about having regular baths. Anything else would just be unhygienic. Good hygiene was not something taken lightly in Japan. He thought about waking the American prisoner, as he could tell the young man hadn't bathed in days, if that. But thought better of it, he would first let the American get some much-needed sleep.  
  
Jumping into the cold water Heero was quickly reminded of his youth in the small village where he had been raised. He had never even heard of a bathtub before joining the military and was surprised when there was no body of water to bathe in at the training base. His fellow soldiers had gotten a good laugh over that one, but it was always that way with the soldiers who came from more isolated villages. It didn't help much that he came from Hokkaido either, or that he was Ainu. He had `pick on me' written all over his face.  
  
As Heero splashed the cold water all over his dirty body, he smirked as he remembered how quickly he had earned their respect. He had been raised a dedicated worker in his village, and impressed the men with his dedication to any mission. Heero was proud to serve his country. And if it meant having to put up with an ignorant, uncivilized, lazy, undedicated American, he would do just that.  
  
He just hoped he survived the experience. Being the only soldier to watch after an enemy had not been part of the program. But was necessary due to the unusual circumstances Heero had found himself in.  
  
Getting out of the water, Heero felt a small chill go though his body as the cold morning air nipped at his damp skin. Quickly drying himself off and getting dressed, he decided to go in search of something he could use as a fishing pole. It was then that he heard a loud wailing noise coming form the direction of the temporary camp.  
  
Springing to his feet, Heero ran off in that direction only to come face to face with the captured pilot singing at the top of his lungs.  
  
"He waaaaaaaaaas a famous trumpet man from out Chicago waaaaaaaay,  
  
He had a boogie style that no one else could plaaaaay  
  
He was the top man at his craft!  
  
But then his number came up and he was gone with the draft.  
  
He's in the army now, blowing reveille!  
  
He's the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B... "  
  
"Shut up! What do you think you are doing?"  
  
"Oh, there you are, I'd thought you had abandoned me to die, well I had hoped. Anways, I was just singing to pass the time. Nothing like some good ol' American swing in the morning."  
  
"BAKA! Did you think that we might be discovered?"  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry! Silly me, I had thought I'd ALREADY been discovered. I better be careful, the Japs might get me now."  
  
"Just because I'm offering you a chance to live, doesn't mean that if you are discovered by some marching troop, the commanding officer of that troop might not order me to kill you. Then we'd lose the only chance of trading you off for some soldiers."  
  
Duo looked up at the angry man and replied in the most sarcastic laden voice he could manage. "Awwwww, I didn't know you cared."  
  
"Baka, Oh course I care about my men..."  
  
An evil grin quickly spread across Duo's face as realization hit him hard.  
  
"OH! So that's it, you've lost some men to the obviously more powerful and skilled Americans and now you feel guilty about it. So you've decided not to kill me and trade me for them. Well this is an interesting turn of events."  
  
Heero didn't even bother to respond, but the angry look on his face gave the truth away. He started to turn away but was stopped by Duo's mocking tone of voice.  
  
"Don't leave now, I'm just starting to get to know you." Slowly, almost too slowly Hero turned around once more to face his prisoner of war. Clenching his fist, he practically growled out his words in a low whisper.  
  
"I will tell you once and only once. You are *MY* prisoner, and only because you were stupid enough not to properly crash your plane and kill yourself. That was your first mistake. Your second will be if you don't mind your own business."  
  
As usual the Japanese soldier hadn't minced his words and he hoped that they had finally gotten through to its target. Unfortunately Duo's pride wouldn't let him be so easily beaten. With a defiant glare that rivaled his captors, Duo spat out his next words.  
  
"At least there was only me that was caught! How many people did you lose to the other side?" Without warning, Heero leaped over from the spot where he had been standing and before Duo could even blink in surprise, Heero had cracked his fist against Duo's face. The American pilot was literally thrown back against the plane, slumping to the ground in a dazed form.  
  
Without looking back, Heero quickly ran off into the woods. Wanting to get as far away as he could from the loud mouthed American.  
  
Duo didn't even notice where Heero had run off to, but he didn't care either. He remained lying on the ground trying to come to grips with the new pain that was racking itself over his tired body, and eventually he started to punch his fist into the dirt out of frustration. He was sick and tired of the whole situation. And even if he didn't want to admit it, he was scared.   
  
  
  
It took Heero a whole three hours to calm down and feel like returning to the camp, and more importantly, to the American. In truth he felt ashamed at the outburst, he was supposed to be one of the best soldiers Japan had to offer, yet one young inexperience American pilot had made him lose his temper so badly. He had even let slip about his patrol being captured by the Americans while he was in the Philippines. He could only hope that most of his men had been killed; being captured was a fate he didn't even want to think about.  
  
During his time away from the temporary camp, Heero had in fact gone out fishing, he was able to catch lunch and cool down a bit a bit using calming techniques he'd learned as a child. He also hoped to show the American that he was above a silly argument, and that it didn't affect him anymore. That he was in charge of the situation, and no American would ever change that.  
  
As soon as he entered the camp he was surprised to see that Duo had moved from where he normally sat and was now...SUNBATHING????  
  
"Well I see you aren't in any danger." Lifting his head the American glared at the other young man while still holding his arm over his eyes to block out the sun.  
  
"No thanks to you, what if one of those patrols came by that you spoke of? They could've taken me off and killed me."  
  
"No, I already told you, my luck is not that good."  
  
"You bastard, you know you could at least pretend to be human, unlike the rest of your race. Maybe even prevent me from being hurt, instead of inflicting more pain."  
  
"Yes, and I'm sure you Americans would show me the same courtesy if I was captured."  
  
"Well maybe not to you, but to the other prisoners we would."  
  
Starting up the fire again, Heero took out the fish he had managed to catch and laid them out on his makeshift grill. "Do you actually believe those lies?"  
  
"They're not lies. We Americans are much more civilized than you Japs, and we treat our prisoners with at least a bit of human courtesy.  
  
Heero could only roll his eyes at the uninformed opinion of the American. He had personally seen a few men return from those so- called 'civilized' American camps. They were anything but civilized. Heero had to admit that the Japanese camps weren't that much better, but it was war, and at least he was able to admit it, unlike the American who lived in his own little world.  
  
Duo stopped waiting for a reply and sat up across from Heero in silence. Again it bothered him not to be talking, the silence was really getting to him. It was almost like if no one was talking he would have to admit his predicament. Duo would rather be verbally fighting with the enemy soldier than have to compete with the silence.  
  
"So what's the plan for today?"  
  
"Hn." Heero just ignored him and continued to cook the meal.  
  
"Whoa, slow down. There's only so much information I can handle at one time."  
  
Again silence.  
  
"I see, so now that you aren't yelling at me, you've lost your magical gift for words." Passing Duo a plate of fish, Heero looked at him expressionlessly.  
  
"Eat."  
  
Duo sighed dramatically. "Ok listen, you don't like me, I know. Hell, I REALLY don't like you. But if I have to spend the next little while waiting around with you so you can fatten me up for the kill or try to pawn me off, there better be some conversation happening."  
  
Looking at Duo for a few seconds without blinking, Heero calmly answered. "No."  
  
"Ah, HELL! You're gonna make me go crazy. Couldn't we pretend to be friends, or at lest not enemies for one meal? Come on, prove to me that you aren't everything I know you are."  
  
The remark just made Heero's temper start to flare, but he was determined not to lose his temper again.  
  
He wanted to point out that it was the American, who had started 90% of all their arguments, but then he noticed the purplish bruise on the young man's cheek, the very one he had caused. Deciding that one meal couldn't really hurt, and maybe he was also just a little tired of fighting, he agreed reluctantly.  
  
"Fine."  
  
For the first time since Duo had crash-landed, Heero could almost swear he saw the boy smile for a split second.  
  
"So Heero, what's your full name?"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"So I know a bit more about you, it's not like I'm going to tell my superiors."  
  
"I can't tell you." At the saddened expression on the American pilot Heero quickly continued. "My full first name is Hiro-matsu."  
  
"I thought it was Heero?"  
  
"It is! Heero is short for Hiro-matsu."  
  
"Oh, Hiro-matsu... that's an odd name. Do you're names mean anything."  
  
"I come from a very old village, we still go by many old traditions. One is that peasants aren't allowed real names. You are named after what you do. My father is named Nouka-san, because he is a farmer. The children of a peasant are named First-son, Second-son, First-daughter and so on. My name means First-son."  
  
"Wow, you guys have it all figured out. I don't even know what my name means."  
  
"It means 'two' in Latin, or a 'Pair' in Italian."  
  
"Oh... I guess that makes sense. But wait, if you're named first son, then wouldn't there be a whole village of you guys."  
  
"Yes... but my father's name tells me apart. And a village is not that big."  
  
"Ya know, you've unwittingly give me you're last name. So you're Hee-roh- matt-sue Noh-ka-son!"  
  
"No, I am Nouka Hiro-matsu."  
  
"God, you Japanese really ARE backwards."  
  
Resting his plate on the ground to drink some water, Heero narrowed his eyes at the American.  
  
"If you wish to continue the conversation, you would due well not to insult me for the time being."  
  
"I was just joking. You're names are backwards... so get it?"  
  
"Backwards to you maybe."  
  
"Ok, I'm sorry. Now you just said you're name was Nouka, I thought it was Nouka-son."  
  
"Nouka-SAN, yes. San is like how you would say Mr."  
  
"Oh, ok. So then... I have to know, why don't you have black hair, or brown eyes?"  
  
"I'm Ainu."  
  
"What's that? Is it like a birth defect?" Duo blinked in total confusion, while Heero glared at him once again.  
  
"No, it means I am from Hokkaido,"  
  
"What?" Duo asked again, even more confused.  
  
Looking at the lost American, Heero sighed in frustration.  
  
"Did you even bother to look at a Japanese map before you decided to attack?"  
  
"Well... no... yes... kinda. Small maps thought..."  
  
"The Ainu are the original inhabitants of this country, there were driven to the northern province of Japan, called Hokkaido, by a sect of the ancient Chinese, now Japanese."  
  
"So why the fair eyes and brown hair?"  
  
"The Ainu have lighter hair than the mainland Japanese. It is rare, but Ainu can also be born with light gray, or blue eyes." Heero surprised himself by telling the foreigner all this about himself and his people. But the mere fact that the American was actually willing to learn something about Japan got him going. He couldn't stand to have him being so ignorant all the time. And besides, he was glad the conversation remained on unimportant things like ancient Japanese history.  
  
"Ahhhhhhhhh, so it all comes together. And here's me thinking that you might have some western blood in ya."  
  
Heero looked positively stricken at the idea. He was 100% Japanese and firmly proud of it! He would die gladly for the better of his country, even risk capture, and this American dared accuse him of being some part western.  
  
Standing up quickly, Heero started to clean up without even looking over at Duo. Afraid of what he might do if he did.  
  
"You were mistaken, as usual." Then without another word, he turned away from the surprised young man and stormed off into the night.  
  
Duo could only slump back down to his laying position wondering what he had said that was so wrong. He had really thought they might be able to at least pretend to get along. He cursed Heero for being such a stuck up snobbish conceited Japanese lackey.  
  
If only Heero could be more like him...  
  
  
  
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. " Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)  
  
  
  
TBC... Well it was fun revising this so far. Sometimes I get surprised when I read a sentence and I think "what the hell was I thinking?" Or I'll read a sentence and laugh and think "gee.did I actually write that, that was pretty good." All in all I hope the edited versions are turning out better than the original.  
  
The Song Duo was signing is called "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy", and was a number 1 hit in 1945.  
  
Everything I had Heero say was true, from the names, to the history of Japan :)  
  
Sony_Mouse -- Please send feedback to the author at: Sony_Mouse@hotmail.com 


	4. Chapter four

Title: It's A Wonderful War 4/

Title: It's A Wonderful War 4/?

Author: Mighty Mouse………uh I mean Sony_Mouse ([Sony_Mouse@hotmail.com][1])

Pairings: If you don't know by now……….joking 1+2+1

Warnings: Language, AU (well OUR Universe really), non-traditional western or propaganda-full outlook on previous WW2, Duo being ignorant, stuck-up, full of himself (hey he's a lot better by this part, and slight OOC

Disclaimers: GW not mine, knowledge and info used for this fic (everything except for the plot and the story) was learned through reading great books like James Clavell's Shogun (I cannot recommend this enough, if you want to learn about Japan, this is THE book to read). Author Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha, David Mak's Kabuki (it's one of the really great AMERICAN comics that are like a manga, not surprisingly Mr. Mak spent a good part of his life in Japan learning about the Japanese). Informal interviews with Japanese, Anthology of Japanese Literature, and from the great help of Misa and Katu. (whew what a disclaimer).

Archives: If for any reason you wish to read my other fics or the first 3 chaps of this one go to [www.gwaddiction.com][2]

Author's Note: I'm looking for really great sayings about war (like the last one I used in Chapter 3). If you know any please send em my way. 

The one for chapter four, I don't know who wrote this, but I read it on the GW MLs. If you know who wrote this (or if you did) please tell me so I can give you credit for it.

******************

From part 3

"Ahhhhhhhhh, so it all comes together. And here's me thinking that you might have some western blood in ya."

Heero looked positively stricken at the idea. If anything he was 100% Japanese and proud of it, he would die gladly for the better of the country and this American dared accuse him of being some part western. Standing up quickly, Heero started to clean up without looking over at Duo.

"You were mistaken, as usual." Turning away from the surprised young man, Heero stormed off. 

Duo could only slump back down to his laying position wondering what he had said wrong. He had really thought they might be able to at least pretend to get along. He cursed Heero for being such a stuck up snob.

If only Heero could be more like him.

**************************

"The winner of a war isn't who was right, but who was left"- Anonymous (so far)

The rest of the day passed by quickly for Duo. Heero returned to camp several times throughout the day, sometimes bearing food to eat, and other time just to apply some ointment onto the American pilot's leg. Duo was sure it must be some kind of poison, or truth serum. He was also starting to wonder where Heero kept on finding all this stuff. When he first met the Japanese man, he had nothing but his own uniform and a gun.

Heero had remained upset during the day, not speaking more than two words per hour, but as the day cooled off, so did Heero. By dinnertime he had returned to his normal stoic and strict self, leaving Duo feeling oddly glad that the soldier was okay and still willing help him recover. Heero had even gone out of his way to find him a strong stick that he could use as some sort of crutch to walk around on. 

As night fell Heero gave all of his attention to the fire, making sure it was warm enough so Duo wouldn't catch a cold or something else during the night. Duo could only chuckle softly at how the act reminded him of his mother in his youth; it just seemed like something she would have done. 

Drifting off to sleep, he relished in the feeling of once again being safe from the outside world, and wondering when he had started to feel like that again, it just didn't make much sense.

**************************

The next morning Heero found himself once again waking up before Duo's subconscious mind could even comprehend that the day had already started without him. Doing a few quick stretches Heero gathered his soap and towel together, heading in the direction of the small lake. He was about to jump in when he realized that it had been ages since he had preformed any type of exercise to clear his mind. 

Placing his belongings on the ground he started to jump over logs and bushes as he began his jog around the lake. 

What Heero didn't know was that his early bath preparations had actually woken Duo up. As soon as the Japanese soldier had left the small camp, Duo had quickly tried to stand up with the help of his crutch, curious to find out where Heero went in the mornings, and hoping it wasn't far, his leg was still too weak for a real walk. After several failed attempts he finally figured out how to walk with the stick and went off in same direction as Heero. 

After Duo had walked for about ten minutes he was about to give up on the whole idea and sit down when he suddenly saw the lake. It wasn't that big but Duo was amazed he hadn't realized it was there sooner. It certainly explained why Heero always seemed so fresh in the mourning. 

Deciding to give up on the soldier and just sit in the bushes to enjoy the sunrise, Duo was surprised when a fast moving figure quickly ran past him. As the figure ran further away from him he realized that not only was it human, but it was Heero. The Japanese boy had been so dedicated to running around the lake that he hadn't even noticed Duo in the bushes. 

Content to sit down, the American watched as Heero ran around the lake more times than he could count, and with out seeming to ever tire from the exertion. This went on for about one full hour, and Duo was left wondering if Heero was really human. Either way the young man seemed like the perfect candidate for the marines...if were American that is.

Just about then Heero jumped over his last fallen log and stopped running where he had begun, in front of where Duo now remained hidden in the bushes. 

Duo could see that contrary to what he had believed before; Heero really was tired from the run. His face was red from the exercise, and sweat glistened over his entire body, rolling down his neck to reach his damp T-shirt, which now clung to his well-defined muscles thanks to the exercise. 

Duo was absolutely shocked and appalled to find himself looking at his captor's chest longer than was necessary. The Japanese soldier may have been well built, but that only meant that he could hurt him more if he tried attack, or catch him faster if he tried to escape. It only meant trouble. 

Pleased with finding something wrong about the soldier, Duo sat back and watched as the young man began to strip away his clothe and toss them aside. Duo's stomach did a turn as he realized he defiantly shouldn't' be watching this, or enjoying it. No matter what, Heero was still the enemy, a heartless, selfish, stuck up, evil, barbarian who delights in killing his enemy.

But a little voice in the back of Duo's mind was trying to tell him he was wrong. Those were only the things he had been told about the Japanese. So far Heero had saved his life, treated his wounds, taken care of him, fed him, watched over him and promised not to kill or torture him, but instead to send him home in trade for soldiers he cared enough about to try and get back. 

The inner turmoil Duo was facing right now really did hurt him. All of a sudden he felt like he couldn't breath. It was no wonder Heero had hit him before, if he had acted like that back in America, his comrades would have done a lot worse. 

Although he didn't fully trust the enemy soldier, he did realize that perhaps not insulting the man every chance he got might actually help his cause, and all it would cost him was the pride he felt he had already lost anyways.   


Duo brought his thoughts back to reality and realized that Heero had already finished his bath and was now sitting down on his towel wearing his combat pants and was staring out at the lake as if it was about to give some great answer. 

The contemplative look Heero was giving was so intense that Duo found himself listening to the lake as if it was going to speak. As soon as he heard a voice speak up, his first ridiculous thought was that the lake had spoken, but he soon realized that the soft mellow voice actually belonged to Heero, he was just speaking in his native tongue. Whatever he was saying it sounded sad to Duo's ears.

"Y no naka wa

Mukashi yori ya wa

Ukarikemu

Waga mi hitotsu no

Tame ni nareru ka"

Without thinking Duo said what he was thinking out loud. 

"What does it mean?"

Quickly turning around Heero almost fell backwards in his attempt to seek out the owner of the voice. 

"D-duo...what are you doing here?"

"Hey don't get all defensive, I came here to get away from the camp, or did you think I'd only use these crutches in that small area."

"Yes...but..."

"Yes?"

"No, I mean no, in Japanese we say yes when you ask a question like that."

"You guys are weirder than I thought."

"Listen, I did mean for you to walk around. I just didn't think you'd..."

"Walk around?"

Heero practically growled out his next word. "NO!"

Standing up Duo leaned on his crutch and walked over to wear Heero was still sitting down. 

"You know you're kind of adorable when you get all flustered like that." Heero's features crunched up in disbelief as he reverted back to Japanese in surprise at Duo's statement. 

"NANI??"

"Gee, it sure doesn't take much to get you all worked up, I was just joking. Now tell me what it was you were saying back there in Japanese, unless it was personal."

Heero remained speechless for a couple of seconds. This was a whole different Duo he was seeing before him. Not only did he feel no hatred coming from hatred, but Duo was trying to tease him not insult him. It made Heero wonder if the American pilot had somehow contracted amnesia. Composing himself Heero responded to the inquiry.

"I'm sorry if I seem flustered, it's just the first time you have ever 'just joked' with me before. I had wondered if you had been injured again."

"You know, Heero, I *can* be nice."

"No, I did not."

"Hey, lighten up, I'm trying to make peace right now."

"Fine, I was just reciting a Haiku, and yes a Haiku is always personal. But I have no qualms with sharing mine with you."

"Umm thanks...I think. What's a Haiku, is it like a vision or something? And what did yours say?"

Heero shook his head, but with patience. "No, a Haiku is a poem of five lines. It expresses what you see, sense, touch, hear, and most importantly feel."

"I guess that would be personal."

"I had said;

Can this world

From of old

Always have been so sad, 

Or did it become so for the sake 

Of me alone?"

After hearing it Duo looked somewhat skeptical. "I think you cheated, that's not five lines."

Heero shook his head in frustration at the American's unwillingness to look at the whole picture. "It is when spoken in Japanese."

"Ah...well, I still say you cheated but I guess I'm no Japanese scholar."

"No, you're not."

"Hey! Mr. I-can-speak-English, before you condescend me again, I bet you didn't know that I can also speak more than one language." Heero actually raised his eyebrow at that.

"Yeah, I speak French. So don't think you're the only one who can learn other languages." Duo thought this might wipe the growing smirk off of Heero's face, but it only seemed to make it grow larger.

"Ah oui, vous parlez Francais? Le meme que je parle maintenant?" (Translation: Oh! You speak French? The exact same that I'm now speaking?) Duo narrowed his eyes dangerously at Heero.

"Shut up! So what, you speak several languages, can you fly a plane? Didn't think so buddy." 

Heero smirk didn't fade one bit as he shot back his retort. "At least I know how to take a bath."

Now it was Duo's turn to be all flustered. "I do too know how to take a bath, but we're in the woods, and I was always told not to take wash when you are in a survival situation."

"Why?"

W-well because then the enemy can't use dogs to find your sent, and they won't be able to catch you."

"Too late."

"And so the animals can't smell you, so you can hunt them easily."

"I do the hunting, and I have provisions." 

"And so the bugs don't bite."

"Bad excuse."

"You didn't tell me there was a lake."

"You should have figured it out, so why don't you have a bath now." Surprisingly Duo's face turned to dread, Heero was amazed at how much emotion the American always displayed. But he had learned from experience that Americans were as easy to read as children were. 

"I-I can't with my broken leg..."

"I'll help you. I'd rather that than you go on like this."

Duo tried to protest loudly but could do nothing as Heero picked him up in his strong arms and walked into the water. By now Duo was really freaking out. Heero on the other hand seemed to be enjoying the whole situation. 

"This will teach you to spy on me." Heero then threw Duo into the water, making sure his leg remained uninjured in the process. 

Staring down at the screaming young man, Heero realized that even with one leg bound, he really shouldn't be having this much trouble in the very shallow water. Reaching into the water, he quickly picked the frightened young man up and held him for a few minutes trying to calm him down.

"What is wrong with you? A bath is not such a bad thing?"

Glaring at the man who was still holding him, Duo took a few quick breaths before starting to rant. "You incentive asshole, and to think I was going to be nice to you. I should have known you would try to kill me."  


"What are you talking about?"

"Fine, I'll admit it, I can't swim, there are you happy? That's why I joined the Air Force, I thought it was the one element that I wouldn't have to swim in. Mind you, I didn't know about the flying over water bit at the time, but I just figured I would never crash into the sea." 

"Baka, the water doesn't even go up to my waist, you could sit in it and not drown."

Peering down at Heero's legs, Duo realized that the Japanese soldier was in fact still holding him over water, and true to his words, it came up just past his knees. Duo looked back up at Heero, but still seemed unsure about the whole thing.

"If you don't get clean, you will find it hard to recover quickly, then you will have to spend even more time with me and in Japan."

"Fine...but let's go a little...no, a lot closer to shore, and then I guess I can sit down. But you can't leave, cause I can't even remember the last time I went willingly into a lake. Deal."

"Hn."

"I'll take that as a yes." Heero sighed as he carried the overreacting pilot to more shallow waters. Placing the young man into a sitting position, the Japanese soldier quickly ran off to get some soap and returned before the American could protest. 

Stripping the American down, Heero flung the wet combats onto the shore where his towel lay nearby. Heero even went so far as to remove the bandages that were surrounding Duo's healing leg. He then began to scrub vigorously, wanting to get rid of any traces of dirt, grim or blood that remained from the crash many days before. 

Duo would have protested to being completely stripped naked and washed like a child, but the truth was he couldn't have manage it on his own, and he really did want to be clean again. Heero was still only wearing the combat pants he had had on earlier, but his only thoughts was getting the American clean without having him become even more frightened of drowning again or irritating his injuries. 

Luckily for Duo, the fear of water kept him from fully realizing his very vulnerable situation or letting his mind wander back to his earlier thoughts about Heero's finally tuned body. 

As soon as Heero was satisfied with Duo's state of cleanliness, which was too long in Duo's opinion, he then began the difficult task of attacking Duo's hair, which was covered in so much dirt, mud and bits of blood that Heero didn't even know it's true colour. Taking the soap he scrubbed hard, ignoring Duo's yelps of pain, knowing that if the American really wanted him to stop, he'd let him know it. 

After that was done, and he had successfully rinsed the pilot, even with several cries from Duo about how he was trying to drown him again, Heero picked up the sopping wet young man and carried him over the short distance to the shore. Careful not to let any sand or dirt get near the American, he let him stand on top of his boots, using the stick as a crutch once more. 

Seeing Duo shiver as a breeze washed over him, Heero took the warm towel, which had been lying the sun for the past little why, and did a complete rub down over Duo's wet body, drying him and using the friction to make him warm at the same time. 

He then told Duo to lye down on the towel. Picking up Duo's dirty, wet clothes from the ground, he looked down at Duo and ordered him once again to rest in the sun, dry his hair, and not move until he came back to rebind his leg. Duo couldn't even ask him where he was going before Heero had turned and ran back into the forest.

Not even twenty minutes had gone by before Heero returned to the small lake, caring a small bundle of clothes with him. It was clear that he had run the entire way, but the run seemed nothing compared to his early exercise this morning. 

Kneeling down next to Duo, he wordlessly started to spread some new medicated cream unto Duo's broken leg. 

"So Heero, where's my clothes?"

"I bartered it." Duo tried to sit up but was held back down by Heero.

"What?"

"It was necessary for supplies. Food is not easy to find anywhere in this area. I had to offer something good, like an enemy uniform, for food and supplies."

"Well you could have asked, that was the last piece of American property I had with me."  


"Hn, you still have your plane, and trust me, no one will mistaken you for being Japanese. Soon enough you will be home again and can buy many, many American uniforms."

The thought of going home quickly cheered him up. If going home meant he lost his combats, he could live without them. 

Duo watched as Heero wrapped the new white bandage around his broken leg. Tying the end off, Heero then reached over and helped Duo get into the new clothes. 

"I don't need your help to get dressed, I'm not afraid of cotton you know." Heero looked unsure but tossed him the bundle of clothes anyways. 

As soon as Duo unraveled the outfit he regretted his words. There seemed to be so much cloth that he didn't know which part went where. 

"What is this?"

"A Kimono."  


"Why did you get me this, why didn't you just get me something for everyday use."

"That is for everyday use, a good kimono would be made from silk. This is what we wear in Japan. I thought you might prefer that to wearing a Japanese uniform."

Duo had to admit that Heero was right, but he still didn't know how to get the thing on. He tried several times to wrap it around himself and after ten minutes he finally thought he had it. He then asked Heero what he thought. 

"Baka."

"Well I'm sorry, it's my first kimony."

"Kimono."

"Yeah, yeah. So show me how to put it on then." Heero helped Duo put the Kimono on without actually putting it on for the pilot. Satisfied Duo reached over to wear his now dry boots lay and was about to put them on when they were roughly grabbed from him, only to be replaced with a set of socks and shoes. 

"Your boots will only aggravate the leg, for now it is more practical to wear these. 

Duo had never seen odder footwear. The socks seemed to be made for the shoes, leaving a space in the material for the shoe's strap to slip between the first and second toe. The outfit itself consisted of wide pants, a loose top, and a second shirt that was open in the front. The second shirt acted almost like a light summer jacket and was tied to the front with a cloth belt of some sort. 

After that was done, Duo instructed Heero to go into his cockpit and retrieve his hairbrush. Duo thought that he must be the only pilot in the history of the U.S.A Air Force to bring a brush along with him on a mission, but he had anyways. 

Brushing his hair with quick strokes, Duo was soon done, and he expertly tied it back into a braid in no time. Finally tying it off with the elastic he had had on before the bath. 

Finding his crutch, Duo tried to stand up and model off his attire. "So do I look Japanese?"

Giving Duo a quick once-over, Heero stopped at the long hair and though about trading the kimono for a female version as a joke, but knew Duo would kill him for it. He was however amazed at how different the pilot now looked. Not only did he look much healthier than he had in the last few days, but by being clean, Heero could get a good look his fair skin and long chestnut hair that shone from finally being washed. The traditional peasant's kimono also added to Duo's figure, making him look stronger and more masculine than he had before, yet at the same time adding such elegance to the American pilot, something Heero didn't know he had in him. In short the American looked…good, really, really good. 

Heero quickly shook the very idea out of his head. Not only was the American, well an American, but he was in no place to start thinking about the pilot looking anything better than a good trade for his lost men. 

"Well?"

"Hn."

"I'll take that as a compliment, even if it was an insult."

"Hn, let's get away from the lake before you get my kimono dirty."

"YOU'RE Kimono, I thought it was MY kimono. I bought it didn't I?"

"No."

"Well my uniform was traded for it."

"Hn." 

Heero and Duo continued to squabble as Heero began to pick up the all their belongings, which littered the shore of the lake. He then turned and walked briskly back to the camp, smirking as Duo trailed and yelled behind him. 

"You bastard, I have a broken leg, you could at least wait. Where are these Japanese manners you keep talking about." 

TBC…

Well there ya go, part four done with. That beach scene was supposed to be about one paragraph long, but then I got it in my head to have Heero run………and well my imagination just wondered away with me (mmmm, yummy, Heero running).

By the way, neither Heero nor I really wrote that Haiku, it's an anonymous entry in my Anthology of Japanese Literature, I thought it expressed Heero's sadness about his troops and his heritage and his homeland and the war all in one (but hey it's open to interpretation.) 

   [1]: mailto:Sony_Mouse@hotmail.com
   [2]: http://www.gwaddiction.com/



	5. Chapter five

Title: It's A Wonderful War 5/

Title: It's A Wonderful War 5/?

Author: Sony_Mouse (AKA. L.A.T.S.F.) ([Sony_Mouse@hotmail.com][1])

Pairings: 1+2 (though I was thinking of changing it to 1xR, what do you think? JOKING, JOKING. Ha ha ha ha)

Warnings: Language, AU (well OUR Universe really), different look on war (I hope).

Disclaimers: GW not mine, knowledge and info used for this fic came from James Clavell's Shogun (READ IT), Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha, David Mak's Kabuki, and Anthology of Japanese Literature. And from great people like Misa and Katu, and other's who've e-mailed me.(whew what a disclaimer).

Archives: If for any reason you wish to read my other fics or the first 4 chaps of this one go to [www.gwaddiction.com][2]

IMPORTANT CHAPTER CHANGE:

Ok, ok I've drastically changed Chapter 4 due to its many inaccuracies. The biggest change involves the Kimono Duo is wearing. Many people pointed out that Duo wouldn't be wearing what I described, so I did some research and found out what he would be wearing. And yes it is called a Kimono; a Yukata is only the TYPE of Kimono. But I mention all that down there. I even found out the most common colours used, which match PERFECTLY with the story. I'm going to post the biggest change here, but if you are archiving my fic and want the updated version, then just ask me and I'll send it your way. Oh and Tyr, I'll just send it to you on my own.

End of Chapter 4:

I don't need your help to get dressed, I'm not afraid of cotton you know." Heero looked unsure but tossed him the bundle of clothes anyways. 

As soon as Duo unraveled the outfit he regretted his words. There seemed to be so much cloth that he didn't know which part went where. 

"What is this?"

"A Kimono."  


"Why did you get me this, why didn't you just get me something for everyday use."

"That is for everyday use, a Johfu would be the more formal kimono and would be made from silk. This is only a Yukata and is what peasants wear in Japan. Or what the rich might wear as a bathrobe. I thought you might prefer that to wearing a Japanese uniform."

Duo had to admit that Heero was right, but he still didn't know how to get the thing on. He tried several times to wrap it around himself and after ten minutes he finally thought he had it. He then asked Heero what he thought. 

"Baka."

"Well I'm sorry, it's my first kimona."

"Kimono."

"Yeah, yeah. So show me how to put it on then." Heero helped Duo put the Kimono on without actually putting it on for the pilot. He also explained each piece as he went along.

As soon as the largest part of the Kimono was placed over Duo's shoulders, Heero motioned for Duo to wrap the long robe like clothes around himself.

"This is an Obi." Duo looked puzzled at the long piece of cotton.

"You mean a belt?"

"No, and Obi. It is similar but not the same thing." He then wrapped the soft cotton Obi around Duo's waist, showing him how to tie it properly.

Satisfied Duo reached over to wear his now dry boots lay and was about to put them on when they were roughly grabbed from him, only to be replaced with a set of socks and shoes. 

"Your boots will only aggravate the leg, for now it is more practical to wear these. 

Duo had never seen odder footwear. The plain white socks seemed to have been made for the shoes, leaving a space in the material for the shoe's strap to slip between the first and second toe.

"That is a Tabi. It will be much softer than your gray wool socks; it's also made of cotton. And the shoes you are putting on are called Geta."

Duo looked slightly frustrated. "Can't you just say socks and sandals? I do speak English you know."

"No, no. Those aren't socks and sandals; they are Tabi and Geta. If you wish to learn anything about the country you can easily bomb, then please at least learn what you are wearing." 

With a sigh Duo gave up. "Fine, fine, they're Tabi and Geta, and Obis and Kimonos and Yukatas. See, I'm listening."

After that was done, Duo instructed Heero to go into his cockpit and retrieve his hairbrush. Duo thought that he must be the only pilot in the history of the U.S.A Air Force to bring a brush along with him on a mission, but he had anyways. 

Brushing his hair with quick strokes, Duo was soon done, and he expertly tied it back into a braid in no time. Finally tying it off with the elastic he had had on before the bath. 

Finding his crutch, Duo tried to stand up and model off his attire. "So do I look Japanese?"

Giving Duo a quick once-over, Heero stopped at the long hair and though about trading the kimono for a female version as a joke, but knew Duo would kill him for it. He was however amazed at how different the pilot now looked. Not only did he look much healthier than he had in the last few days, but by being clean, Heero could get a good look his fair skin and long chestnut hair that shone from finally being washed. The traditional peasant's kimono, which was a simple pattern of indigo and white, also added to Duo's figure, making him look stronger and more masculine than he had before, yet at the same time adding such elegance to the American pilot, something Heero didn't know he had in him. In short the American looked…good, really, really good. 

Heero quickly shook the very idea out of his head. Not only was the American, well an American, but he was in no place to start thinking about the pilot looking anything better than a good trade for his lost men. 

It startled him that he would think about Duo as anything else. Liking other men was a very common practice, especially among the troops. But Heero had never had that 'leaning' before. He'd never had any 'leaning' before, and especially not for an enemy.

"Well?"

"Hn."

"I'll take that as a compliment, even if it was an insult."

"Hn, let's get away from the lake before you get my kimono dirty."

"YOU'RE Kimono, I thought it was MY kimono. I bought it didn't I?"

"No."

"Well my uniform was traded for it."

"Hn."

Heero and Duo continued to squabble as Heero began to pick up all their belongings, which now littered the shore of the lake. He then turned and walked briskly back to the camp, smirking as Duo trailed and yelled behind him. 

"You bastard, I have a broken leg, you could at least wait. Where are these Japanese manners you keep talking about."

*******************************

Chapter 5

"And the battle's just begun   
There's many lost, but tell me who has won   
The trenches dug within our hearts   
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart" –U2 Sunday Bloody Sunday   
  


Nighttime claimed the small camp in the woods, turning everything it touched into darkness. Everything that is, except for the small area which surrounded the bright fire. 

Heero was in the process of making supper while Duo laid on his back staring up into the stars. He had a lot on his mind, especially stuff involving the young Japanese man who was now sitting on the other side of the fire preparing some sort of dinner, one Duo was sure not to like.

It just surprised him how quickly Heero was growing on him. Yes, he hated being captured! Yes, he wanted to go home. But he was starting not to blame Heero for his crashing into the country in the first place. Heero could have done many things, killing him being the most obvious, but he hadn't. And everything he had done so far was for Duo's benefit, even if it was just to make him a good trade; it still was kind of nice to have the stoic soldier watching after him. 

The most alarming of Duo's thoughts traced back to earlier that day at the small lake. The way he had randomly thought about Heero's 'toned' body. It was no surprise that he thought about a guys body in that way, he had known of his preferences since he was thirteen, but for him to feel even remotely attracted to the man who could very easily be his worst nightmare, disturbed Duo greatly. 

But as long as it stayed as nothing more than a simple attraction, Duo could handle it. After all, he was quite often attracted to other men, and most of them never found out, and it never became anything serious. His biggest crush would have had to have been with Captain Solo. Duo had fallen for him the moment he laid eyes on the attractive man, he was just so successful, kind, confident, gorgeous, and now he was also dead.

The thought of Solo made Duo flinch slightly, he'd hardly thought about the other man since his plane had crashed, there had just been too much on his mind. But the thought of his dead comrade brought a pang of guilt to Duo's conscience; it was after all his fault that Solo was dead, and not Heero's or that of Heero's people. Yet still, it was so easy to blame them, easier than Duo liked to admit.

Turning his gaze to the form of his captor, Duo suddenly decided he'd been quiet long enough, his thoughts were getting the better of him and he couldn't allow that now. He didn't want to think about what had happened at all.

Duo yelled cheerily over to the soldier, ignoring the scowl that covered the young man's face. "Heero! Heero! I wrote a Haiku! Do you wanna hear it?"

"No."

Pouting, Duo continued his assault. "It's really good, and it's only my first. I got it from 'experiencing' nature, just like you told me to do. Ok here we go."

"Twinkle, twinkle

Little star.

How I wonder, how you are.

I wish I may, I wish I might,

Wish upon a star tonight."

Heero could only stare blankly at Duo before shaking his head in frustration.

"Duo, did you even write that?"

"Well, I may have borrowed a few words here and there from a poem I know, but it's very original I think."

"I'm sure, but it's not a Haiku."

"Well, at least I'm trying. Fine, you don't like me to learn your poems then I'll just have to do what I do best."

Wearily, out of some sort of twisted curiosity he possessed, Heero asked what that was

"Why I sing swing of course. It's time to get In The Mood! [1]" Jumping up to his feet with the help of his crutch, Duo began to do a moderately well done swing dance using only one leg. While at the same time he sang the words to his favorite Glen Miller piece.

"Who's the livin' dolly with the beautiful eyes?

What a pair o' lips, I'd like to try 'em for size

I'll just tell her, "Baby, won't you swing it with me?"

Hope she tells me "maybe", what a wing it will be

So I said politely, Darlin' may I intrude?"

She said, "Don't keep me waitin' when I'm In The Mood"

"OKAY, SECOND verse, feel free to sing along,!"

"First I held her lightly and we started to dance

Then I held her tightly what a dreamy romance

And I said, "Hey baby, it's a quarter to three"

There's a mess of moonlight won't-cha share it with me?

"Well", she answered, "Mister, don't-cha know that it's rude

to keep my two lips waitin' when they're In The Mood."

In The Mood, that's what she told me

In the Mood…"

Heero practically jumped Duo and clamped his hand over the other boy's mouth in an effort to make him be quiet. "Stop that this instance, what horrible, horrible music. You have single handedly destroyed the harmony of these woods."

Trying to look like he understood what Heero was talking about, Duo broke free from the other's grasp and tried to apologize, though he wasn't quite sure why he had to. 

"Sorry, I didn't realize you had such bad taste in music. Apologize to the woods for me next chance you get, wouldn't want their harmony to be destroyed for too long." 

Slumping down into a sitting position, Duo made it clear he wasn't happy about being told to shut up. "You could at least talk to me if I'm not allowed to recite poetry or sing or live."

"I thought I *was* letting you live."

"Life without swing is no way to live."

"Hn, I'll remember that next time I talk to a monk."

Duo sighed loudly, trying as hard as he could to distract Heero from his task of making dinner and force the soldier to continue to talk with him. But before he could even really start, Heero placed a small plate in front of him and placed two of those strange fork-knives in his hand.

"You're not going to force feed me again are you?"

"Only if you don't eat up."

Looking down at the strangely wrapped food and the even stranger utensil, Duo tried to push the food away. "How do you expect me to eat this...this stuff, with those sticks."

"That 'stuff' is Sushi, which is very good for you, and those 'sticks' are Hashi. You use them like this." Heero demonstrated how to hold them, but Duo was unable to grasp the concept. He tried to give up by just stabbing the food, but Heero wouldn't allow it. 

"You have to learn how to eat like a Japanese if you are to pass for one." Duo had finally managed to pick up a piece of sushi when he heard Heero's words. He was so surprised that he dropped the piece of food onto the ground.

"WHAT! Are you mad, me pass for a Jap? I don't think so, have you looked at me recently?"

Looking stern, Heero placed his own chopsticks down on his plate and prepared to fill Duo in on his small plan.

"It will be necessary for you to pass for one if you are to make it to the head quarters in the nearby city. There is no other way I can get you there safely without another patrol wanting to pick you up as a prisoner."

"Heero, I understand how much you want to save those soldiers, but LOOK AT ME! I look as Japanese as you do black. You're plan is stupid, stupid, stupid. I can't believe you, of all people, thought of it."

"Quiet and let me explain." The stern tone Heero used quickly shut Duo up. "When we do this, no one will hear you speak, or see your face. You are short enough to easily pass as one of us without suspicion, and with your hair done up under a farmer's hat and your face covered by bandages due to the 'horrific burns' you gained during the war, no one should suspect anything. But you still have to learn how to eat and walk and move like a Japanese man."

Duo was struck silent by the length of the speech. It was obvious that Heero was forced into using his last resort, but it had still been well planned. The scary part was that it was starting to make sense to him.

"So you think I can do it? Pass for one of you?"

"I don't know, but it is your only chance if you want to escape here. Keep in mind my plan hasn't even been approved, you could very well have to remain here." Heero's voice was as serious as always, but there was something desperate and pleading in his eyes. He needed Duo's help for this, it was no longer something he could just force out of Duo. This was something the American had to be willing to perform; one slip and he could get them both killed.   


For the first time since they had met, Heero's fate was now in Duo's hands.

Duo's voice lost all it's cheerfulness, all it's bitterness and sarcasm, until all that remained was a young man who desperately wanted to see his own people again.

"Fine, teach me how to be Japanese. Let's get your men back home."

**************************

The 'training' lasted for about a week or so, it was all the time they had. Heero's every breath dedicated to making Duo's naturally slack movements become a thing of grace. Turning his manners into something to be semi-proud of. Even teaching him some basic Japanese vocabulary so he could understand what was being said to him, or at least pretend to.

Every movement Duo made became calculated and examined until Heero was satisfied, which he never was.

It did help that the braided boy was a quick learner, but one week just wasn't enough time to teach him everything he needed to know. 

They would be lucky if Duo 'just' passed for a rude, clumsy and not too bright wanderer. It was the best they could hope for. 

The braided boy now stood silently leaning on his crutch in his freshly cleaned Kimono, watching as Heero packed the last of their necessary items into bags. The rest had already been bartered off for money. 

In the time that he had been in the camp Duo had healed much. His leg was still broken, but it was healing, and with the help of the crutch he could walk quite easily, though much slower than Heero. 

The Japanese soldier gave the American pilot one slightly nervous nod, the signal to head out. From this point on Heero would speak no English unless they were absolutely sure that they were alone. There was enough risk already without worrying about someone noticing that Heero had to speak English to his 'soldier friend'. 

They two walked in silence for hours on end, only stopping every now and then to give Duo's leg a rest, and to drink some water. The American pilot was quite happy with the slow pace, because he was in awe of the surrounding area, he'd never seen anything even remotely as beautiful. If he weren't being constantly reminded of where he was, Duo would have said he was falling in love with the land. 

They walked through many villages that day, never even bothering to stop in one, fewer people to explain things too. Duo couldn't help but look at everything with new eyes. It was just so different from the small town he'd grown up in. Even the children held a wonder for him. He couldn't help but be a bit jealous that they had mastered the language he could barely make sense of. Even the way people acted around each other was so different. It was like the world had been turned upside-down.

Oddly enough people weren't that scared or nervous around him in his indigo and white Yukata. But once they got a single look at Heero, they'd back off quickly. 

Duo just figured that they didn't like the military, or Heero frightened them with his set scowl. What else could it be?

By suppertime, the braided boy was extremely happy to finally stop at an inn to get some food. He would finally get to use all those table manners he'd been working so hard to learn, but more importantly he was starving. 

As they entered the smile, yet very elegant inn, Heero motioned with his hand for Duo to stand near the back of the room while he made talked to the mistress of the house. 

The lady was dressed in the most interesting outfit that Duo had seen, it was like his but a hundred times as elegant and ornamental. Even her hair was done up in a fashion he'd never before seen. She came forward and at first showed interest in whatever Heero was saying, but after she'd turned on all the lamps and could see both Heero and himself clearly, something changed in her eye, and her disgust was thinly veiled. Even with the language barrier it was clear to see that she was eager to get rid of them. 

Heero replied in a few angry, yet polite words of his own. The lady proceeded to get really mad while she pointed at Duo and shouted something into Heero's face. Whatever it was, it made him see tense up incredibly. He bowed swiftly before grabbing Duo's arm and helping him out of the inn. Eager to get as far away as he could from the awful woman. 

The entire way Heero wouldn't even look at Duo as they walked away from the small town. It wasn't until they were a safe distance that Heero suddenly walked off the rode and spread the only blanket they had neatly on the ground. He sat down with a precise grace, trying to let off steam without showing it. But it was obvious he was upset.

Duo cautiously sat down next to him, placing his crutch on the ground. Looking down while he refused to make eye contact with Heero, Duo whispered something so quietly that the Japanese soldier almost missed it. 

"What was that?"

"I said...I said, I'm sorry." Heero looked slightly puzzled by Duo's words, but let him continue.  


"I really did try to fit in. I didn't slouch, and I didn't wave my arms around. I tried to walk in step with you like a soldier; I even bowed when people bowed to me. But I guess I'm just not a good enough actor, I really am sorry."

"Why?"

Duo practically sputtered in surprise. "Because you got caught. They wouldn't let us stay there because of me. And who knows who that witch's talked to by now."

Heero's usual glare was replaced by a wide-eyed look. "You think that's why she didn't let us stay there?"

"Well yes...why else wouldn't she? She was angry with you and pointing at me. It's obvious that she was mad at you for bringing an enemy with you."

"That's not why she kicked us out."

Now it was Duo's turn to act surprised. "Wh-what?"

"She was pointing at you because she was using you as an example."  


"An example?"

"An example of what a real soldier was like. She told me I was unworthy to even be around you, that she would gladly let you stay, but never wanted to see my face again."

"Wow, guess I'm a better actor than I thought. But why'd she hate you so much. Just because you weren't 'injured' like me."

Picking up the rifle that he still carried with him as part of his uniform, Heero tried to concentrate on it and not Duo's gaze. 

"I told you before. I'm Ainu! As far as that lady and many others are concerned, I'm not worthy to be in this uniform. I should be working up in Hokkaido making food for the armies, not 'playing soldier', as she put it."

"Well I'll be damned, you're almost as much as an outcaste as I am." To that Heero shook his head angrily.

"Oh no, you are much more than an outcaste to my people. You are the symbol of what is preventing us from taking what is ours. You are barbarians, incapable of rational thought or reason. Nothing you do makes sense, yet you are so predictable. You are cocky and self-riotous, thinking that everything you know is right and the only way. That no one else could possibly think of a better way to live. You take nothing seriously; the war is a joke to you. A way to bring glory to your self, not honor to your people."

In the darkness that surrounded them, only broken by the glow of the moon, hurt flashed briefly across Duo's face. "Is that my people, or me you're talking about."

"I don't know..."

The hurt was quickly replaced by anger. "Is that what you really think of me? That this is a joke to me and my people. Do you have any idea how much pain this war has brought to us just because you guys feel like 'expanding'? Can you even contemplate how hard it is to know that my fellow pilots are dead? Not captured, but DEAD!"

"They died for their country with honor, nothing as bad as being captured." Duo could only shake his head in disbelief. "I don't give a damn if they died for their country." Tears of frustration and guilt were beginning to appear in Duo's eyes. "They died for me, just because I felt like being a hero. Well, I'll tell you one thing, I'm sick of this war and I'm sick of you. I'm sick of you hating me, and you wanting me dead, but only keeping me alive for your troops that you were stupid enough to let get caught." 

Standing up in anger, Duo motioned towards Heero's gun. "If you hate me so much, if I'm such a horrible person to be around, shoot me! I'd rather that then you have go through one more moment of hell by being around me." Duo was really crying now, but he didn't care. Everything was just so foreign to him, and the one person he was starting to feel safe around turns out to hate him.

"Duo…"

"What, having second thoughts."

"I don't hate you." Heero ground out in frustration.

"Oh I'm sorry I must have misheard you earlier."

"I was upset. I was mad that my people could easily except you to be Japanese while wanting nothing to do with me." Heero's voice was starting to crack, showing just how upset the young man really was. "Maybe I also get sick of fighting wars, maybe I get sick and tired of having to give up everything for a country that would rather I didn't exist." 

Mush calmer now, Heero changed the tone of his voice. "I'm sure that your comrades were proud to die for you. You must have had great friends."

Adverting the intense gaze that Heero now gave him, Duo mumbled his reply, still shocked at both his and Heero's outburst. "I didn't even know them. I kinda knew Solo, but the rest, I didn't even know their names. They didn't even know who they were dying for." 

"I'm sure if they ever got to know you, they'd know that you were worth the sacrifice."

Duo's mouth quirked in a mocking smile. "Are you saying that because I'll be able to save all of your men?"

"No, I'm saying that because it's true." 

Completely worn out from fighting and the long day's walk, Duo slumped back down to the ground, feeling much calmer. He looked over at the usually emotionless face that now showed anger, bitterness, and despair all at once. And for some reason he felt like he had never understood Heero better than at that moment. 

"Fine Heero."

"What?"

"I accept your apology."

"But I didn't…" Duo interrupted him and lay down on the blanket, staring up into the endless sky. The cool breeze washing over his flushed skin. "Oyasumi Heero." 

Blinking in surprise, it took Heero a few minutes to realize what had just happened. Duo had let bygones be bygones. He had said his piece, let Heero say his, and now they were…equals. 

It was a frightening thought that he no longer held anything over Duo, but at the same time refreshing. A small smile played at Heero's lips, not big enough to actually notice, but a smile none the less.

"Good night Duo." He then joined the American pilot by lying down next to him on the blanket, at once knowing that he and Duo had understood each other perfectly, if only for a few moments. 

They had opened the door to new possibilities. Heero just hoped that one of those possibilities was getting Duo home. He felt he owed the boy that much. 

TBC….

Wellllllll I didn't get to the point I wanted to be at, but I still hope it was ok. The funny thing about when I leave a story is that I forget what I wrote. So I had to go back and reread my story. I HATE rereading my stories weeks later because I always see how horrible it is, but this time I actually got into it. I was actually reading it like a new fic and excited to see what I wrote. Yeah I knew the general plot, but I real forgot what I had written. It was kinda neat. So I hope that this well be 'kinda neat' when I read it weeks from now. If not, I can only apologize.

RESPOND please for my sake sony_mouse@hotmail.com

   [1]: mailto:Sony_Mouse@hotmail.com
   [2]: http://www.gwaddiction.com/



	6. Chapter Six

Title: It's A Wonderful War 5/

Title: It's A Wonderful War 6/?

Author: Sony_Mouse ([Sony_Mouse@hotmail.com][1])

Pairings: 1+2 

Warnings: Language, AU (well OUR Universe really), different look on war (I hope).

Disclaimers: GW not mine, knowledge and info used for this fic came from James Clavell's Shogun (READ IT), Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha, David Mak's Kabuki, and Anthology of Japanese Literature. And from great people like Misa and Katu, and other's who've e-mailed me. (Whew what a disclaimer).

Archives: If for any reason you wish to read my other fics or the first 4 chaps of this one go to [www.gwaddiction.com][2]

Archives 2: If you, or a friend would like to archive my fics. NOW YOU CAN, only for the low, low price of 50% per fic/chapter. Make checks out to Sony_Mouse, credit cards accepted. Ok, I'm joking, It's free and you have my permission. Just please give me credit for them and at least send me the links so I can see it sometime.

TATTOO: ok completely ot, but I was all sad cause people were showing pics of each other and I couldn't, so here's a link to my tattoo, it's like a pic.,….but not (yes it's real, it's also the ONLY thing of me I have scanned on the WORLD WIDE NET) [http://bamfisland.homestead.com/tattoo.html][3]

************************

From the amazing (or not so amazing, depending who's side you're on) Part 5

Blinking in surprise, it took Heero a few minutes to realize what had just happened. Duo had let bygones be bygones. He had said his piece, let Heero say his, and now they were…equals. 

It was a frightening thought that he no longer held anything over Duo, but at the same time refreshing. A small smile played at Heero's lips, not big enough to actually notice, but a smile none the less.

"Good night Duo." He then joined the American pilot by lying down next to him on the blanket, at once knowing that he and Duo had understood each other perfectly, if only for a few moments. 

They had opened the door to new possibilities. Heero just hoped that one of those possibilities was getting Duo home. He felt he owed the boy that much. 

(whew, that was deep :)

*******************

Sony_Mouse: Ok, extra warning today, I'm in a very sarcastic mood. Anything I say may not be used against me in the court of law, and it's all Duo's fault.

Duo: Hey, what did I do.  


Sony_Mouse: Quiet slave, back to the fic *whip, whip*

Duo: Yes master!

Sony_Mouse: MUAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHHA...ok I'm scaring myself now, sorry Duo, luv' ya. 

Duo: S'ok...

**********************

Part 6

Bright and early the next morning, Heero was already up making preparations for their trip. He had quickly hidden any evidence that they had slept there the previous night, and was more than ready to get a move on things. 

Duo on the other hand was sore all over and not willing to get up as quickly as Heero had managed. It had been weeks since he'd really walked around, and was now feeling the effects of it. But after Heero nudged him a few times with his boot, Duo knew he had no other choice but to get up.

"I'm up, I'm up! Enough with the kicking already."  
  
Looking down at the American pilot, Heero nudged him once more for good luck. "I'm not kicking you."

Wincing in pain from the sore muscles, Duo finally managed to stand up on both feet. "Oh, so you're trying not to hurt me anymore, right?"

Heero snorted at the comment. "No, I just wouldn't want to get MY kimono dirty." 

"Why you... If you're not careful you'll have to choose between this Kimono, and my good graces." 

"As long as my Kimono is in one piece, I'll be more than happy to give up your 'good graces' any day." Without waiting for a reply, Heero turned and walked off, smirking to himself as he heard Duo fall over in an attempt to retrieve his hat. 

*************************

Much like the other day, the two walked non stop for many hours, enjoying the country side, but weary of the danger. Duo remained silent for security reasons, and Heero used every opportunity to tease the American pilot about his predicament. What had once been hatred created by different cultures and a war had turned into to something else. 

But whatever it was, as the hours wore on, it slowly disappeared from Heero demeanor, and he became once again solemn and contemplative.

It was very hot out that day, the sweat running all over his sore limbs, the kimono was a blessing, making Duo feel at least a bit cooler. But Duo still over heated, and he was hungry, very hungry. Since the journey had begun they had hardly eaten, and this morning was no exception. 

So it was in these moments of self-pity that Duo didn't pick up on Heero's withdrawal until much too late. It wasn't until they both met up with a fork in the road, that Duo really noticed the change. 

The Japanese soldier stood very rigid, glaring at the offending two roads, not wanting to share with Duo any of his thoughts. He had already explained the trip to Duo, telling him the way and what roads would be used, but he now chose to leave Duo out of his change in plans. 

Pointing in the to the left road, Heero made his decision. "We're going this way."  


Throwing all caution to the wind, Duo piped up in surprise. "But why? I thought we were going along this road until we met up with that village. I'm starving, and I think I could use a break. I'm a pilot, not a foot soldier you know."

Clenching his fists slowly in frustration, Heero practically ground out his words in a more heavily accented English. He always let his accent slip a bit when he got frustrated. "We are going this way. It's not a choice, and you have no say in the matter." 

Defiance rose in Duo's eyes as he blatantly refused the other man's authority. 

"No! You said this path was the quickest, I want to get home, and you want you're men back. Who knows how long that other route would take us."

"It would only be a few days extra, less if we can catch a ride." 

Duo glared at Heero, deciding not to let Heero win for once, and proceeded to sit down in the middle of the road.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me why we're changing our plans."

The anger that rose up Heero's face looked to be lethal and uncontrollable, very rare if you knew how controlled Heero always was. 

"They are my plans and you are not staying here, we are going this way, this is not a choice. You are *MY* prisoner and will do as I say, or else."

For reasons beyond him, Duo was equally angered by the soldier's harsh words, maybe even a little hurt. So without thinking he screamed out just what he thought about Heero's plans.

"Or what? You'll shoot me, just like I always thought you would? You're not even good enough to be a Jap. You're nothing but a lowlife, stupid, ignorant, FUCKING AINU!" 

Before Duo knew what had hit him, he was lying sprawled across the ground feeling a large amount of pain in his left cheek. Looking up through the bandages that were still securely wrapped around his head, Duo could see an angry and seething Heero who was ready to strike again at a moment's notice. He glared down at the unmoving figure and quickly bit out his next words. 

"Let's just see how long you survive without you're 'fucking Ainu'." Then without warning, he spun around and made his way down the left road. Duo had to literally bite back the tears that were forming in his eyes. Heero was actually abandoning him, leaving him to die in this crazy foreign country. No one was taking him home, and no one gave a shit about him. Hell, he'd be lucky if he survived until nightfall.

But a little voice in the back of Duo's head wouldn't let that happen. He was going to show Heero up even if it was the last thing he ever did. He was simply going to go down that other road and make his way to the base. If he wasn't shot on sight, he might have a small chance of explaining things, maybe even get Heero into trouble. 

Now about the passing villages, Duo felt he could handle that too. He already knew that the people respected him instantly upon meeting him because of his "military past". They just had to look at him to see all that he had 'suffered' during the war. 

Getting up and brushing the dirt off of his formally clean kimono, he reached over and grabbed his hat and crutch to start walking. It was time to see if he was really that great of an actor. 

*************************

It didn't take that long for Duo to reach the village, but he had to recheck his mental map to be sure if this was a village in the first place. It looked more like the front line. Everything was destroyed. 

Looking around the horrible scene in front of him, Duo had to grip his crutch even tighter because he felt so weak in the knees. 

The few houses that were still left were long since burned to the ground; ashes seemed to reside over everything, wood, streets, the dead bodies... 

The bodies, why hadn't anyone bothered to pick them up yet, they looked like they had been dead for at the very least a few weeks. 

Much like in the other villages, the surviving children and adults seemed to be poor beyond belief, cause by the war in general. But these ones had haunted looks in their eyes, like they had seen so much mass destruction and were just waiting for it to happen again. 

But what really surprised Duo was that the village looked like it had only held maybe a thousand villagers before, why would anyone want to bomb it? It was just didn't make much sense.

Looking over to the side, a little girl caught his attention. She was missing a few limbs, and the stumps were badly infected, yet she lay there starving, surrounded by a few older bodies, who could only have been her family. 

But the little girl was not what had caught his eye; it was the jacket that she wore around her frail body. The jacket was one of the good kind, a leather bomber jacket worn by pilots, although he could not make out the words that were written on it, it was clearly American. 

Duo slowly walked over to the lying girl and motioned to her that he wanted to know where she had gotten the jacket. He tried to avoid her gaze, her unblinking wide eyes looked like they should belong to a ghost, not a small child. After a few failed attempts, she finally understood and pointed towards the horizon. 

Searching through his Kimono, Duo was able to find some crumbly crackers he'd had with him, and shoved them into the girl's one open hand. He then walked off as briskly as he could with his crutch, before coming to a complete halt in front of a scene that would haunt him the rest of his life.

There, all wrecked and crashed in a big heap, was a plane, an American plane, an American plane that had been in his Squad. The earth seemed to stand still as Duo suddenly became dizzy. He threw off his hat and ripped whatever bandage was wrapped around his head, and made his way to the cockpit, where the rotting body of a pilot he had once known, still hung limply from the bashed seat. 

As soon as he was able to identify the exact pilot, just one of the many he hadn't had time really meet, Duo fell to the ground and bent over to throw up whatever it was the remained in his stomach. Unfortunately the guilt would not go away. 

A great shudder swept through his whole body as he leant over to empty his stomach some more, wanting to run, wanting to die, wanting to do anything but learn what he had really done. 

It was then that he felt a reassuring hand lightly rub his back. He quickly spun around, only to be faced with the concerned face of Heero Yui. 

The Japanese soldier did not offer one word of sympathy as he softly wiped Duo's sweaty bangs away from his eyes, nor did he complain as Duo completely broke down, sobbing uncontrollably. 

He just brought the trembling pilot into his arms, and held on to him for dear life as the American cried, waiting for the young man to calm down, and knowing that that might never happen. 

However, Duo did eventually calm down a bit, but remained in Heero's arms, ready to confess.

"I did this, and you knew it didn't you."

Heero nodded slowly, not wanting to make any quick movements. "News travels fast, but yes, I knew what you would find here."

"I deserve your hate, everything you ever said about me was true. I didn't even know what I was bombing."

"There was a factory in the village, they made some military product or another. But the bombs are just too erratic, and the fire spreads to what wasn't bombed."

"So this is why you changed the route… why not before?"

It was Heero's turn to confess as he held to the now weak pilot tightly, his army green contrasting greatly with the off-white and indigo of the kimono. "Because I wanted you to see what you had done, to stop thinking of your people as saints, and mine as the devil."

"But..."

"But I realized yesterday that you already knew that it wasn't so simple as black and white. And I knew you that were just a young pilot, sent in to do his job, like every other damned soldier in any army. You didn't deserve to see this, you're just as innocent as the people who died here."

Duo tensed up at the words. "That's bullshit, I deserve more than just seeing this, I KILLED these people, children for God's sake, innocent children!"

"Then we all deserve to see what we've done, you're just a child too, you know, but one who got caught up in this bloody war."

"And what does that make you?"

"A stupid soldier who thought he knew you and this war, but is now more confused then ever."

Duo let out a sad chuckle and returned the strong grip Heero had on him. "I guess I can see that. Welcome to the land of confused, I think I discovered the place." 

Looking up into Heero's regretful eyes, Duo tried to ask what he really wanted to know. "So why'd you come back? I thought I'd lost you, that you'd given up on me."

"I never left you in the first place." This got a curious look from Duo, who was sure he'd been alone the whole time. "I was mad. I was trying to watch out for you and you were being so damn stubborn. So I stormed off, but I wasn't about to leave you there. I just watched from a distance, like you said, I knew what you would find here. And I was… worried." 

They were both afraid to break their locked gazes, afraid the other might really leave them, if given the chance. And so despite the guilt, despite the surroundings, despite everything that had happened, and despite knowing that he shouldn't feel this way, Duo felt safe in Heero's arms. He felt safe when Heero was around, and at that moment, he didn't want it to be any other way than the way it was. "Thank you."

Heero's brow creased as confusion slipped into his features. 'Why."

"Thanks for not giving up on me, for not leaving me." 

Duo looked so peaceful for that single moment. His flushed lips were cracked in a small smile, his bright violet eyes shone with… something, his hair, now released from it's confining bandages and hat, was set in a lose braid that had wisps flying all around Duo's face. And his face, although pale, looked lovely, especially only inches away from his own. So before Heero could stop himself, he let the words fall from his mouth, words he hadn't even known he'd been thinking. 

"Maybe one day, you could return the favor." 

The words didn't even have time to register in Duo's mind, when a Gunshot was fired, much noise could be heard soon after, the military was approaching. 

Without even asker permission, Heero grabbed the light bundle that was Duo and rushed him off to the very small area of bushes that lined near the plane. There was no where to run without being seen, and no way of escape. Duo clutched tightly to Heero and tried not to think about being caught.

It didn't take long for the some of the officers to appear near the plane, one look at the uniform's and Duo practically screamed. 

"They're Americans!" 

Heero smacked his hand over Duo's mouth and dragged him into the bush. 

"Are you mad?"

Pushing the Japanese soldier's hand away, he continued talking like he had never stopped. "Heero, they're Americans. They'll take me home…"

"…and they'll shoot me." 

Duo was too excited to really listen. "No they won't, I'll explain everything, they might even give you a medal for saving me." 

The reality of the situation really hit Heero by this time and he grabbed Duo's shoulders to stare him directly in the eyes. "I have to get out of here. Go back to you're people, leave a long life, and never mention I exist."

Duo started shaking his head dramatically. "I'm not leaving you here, you could talk to my officers and get you're people free, American's love war heroes, and I'll be one for no reason. I can use that status to get them to release your people."

"Fine Duo, but you'll have to do it alone. I can't stay here and you know it. I don't even know if I CAN get out of here as it is. Maybe if you show yourself soon they'll be distracted enough for me to flee."

"But... but"

"Enough, GO!" He then pushed Duo out of the bushes, his bad leg causing him to crumble to the ground, and watched as the American officers stared at him in open surprise. Lying on the ground before them was clearly an American citizen, dressed in a now dirty kimono, looking too shocked to move. 

The officer quickly ran over to him, asking if he was ok, and if he had been one of the pilots shot down here. 

Duo could only nod as they checked over his body, not once taking his eyes away from the bushes, yet not giving away Heero's position either. 

As soon as Heero felt that Duo was taken care of, and that it was safe to move, he jumped up and tried to make a run for it. He didn't get very far as he plowed into a solid figure who'd been behind him for quite some time. 

Looking up in frustration, Heero got a quick glance at the Chinese soldier before a rifle butt was slammed down into his head. 

Everything went black as Heero's body fell quietly to the ground. 

*****************

Field Captain David Smith was more surprised than anyone to see the American boy suddenly jump out of the bushes and fall to the ground with no warning; he'd almost shot him but had noticed the long CHESTNUT braid in time. The colour was not exactly typical among Japanese villagers. 

The boy, who was still lying down on the ground, was now trying to tell him his story, saying how he crashed here many weeks ago, and had somehow survived. Smith tried to get the boy to calm down and rest, but he kept talking as if he desperately needed to have his attention. 

A noise was heard from the bushes and the Captain noticed the boy's eyes grow with fear. 

"Chang? Did you find something?"  
  
The Chinese soldier yelled out a gruff reply as he dragged an unconscious form from the small bushy area. 

"I found one of the soldiers sir, he had the that boy there captive and pushed him out to distract us while he made a getaway."

Suddenly the boy's fear made sense. "How do you know that was his plan?"

"He spoke English, maybe a spy, but definitely high up. I only heard the last part of the conversation, where he threatened the kid and pushed him out,"

Duo dragged himself over to the fallen body, not even hearing the words that were passed around him. He checked over Heero's body, noticing the large red pool that was forming on the ground near where he had been hit. Seeing that it was bloody, Duo began to look around frantically.

"Is he... is he dead?"

The Captain quickly walked over to the shaking boy and placed a firm hand on his shoulders. It was obvious that the boy had been through a lot, and Smith couldn't even imagine the forms of torture the military must have used on the young pilot. In the most reassuring tone he could muster, the Captain tried to calm the boy down once again. 

"You don't ever have to worry about him hurting you again... " Before he could even finish his sentence, the young pilot seemed to freeze up, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he passed out. 

The captain didn't hesitate to pick him up into his arms, and gave the boy a look or pity. 

Chang took that moment to add his comments on the situation. "Amazing he survived this long with so few injuries, he must have been on his own to heal a bit before the military got their hands on him. His country should be honored."

"We are Chang! The country will be dying to hear this guy's story first chance they get. I'll take him to the infirmary; he seems sick, smells like he just threw up or something, not surprising, that they must have starved him or fed him their so called food, the bastards."

Chang nodded, agreeing with every word the man spoke. 

"And Chang, get this scum out of my site. I want him tied and secured at base camp. He's got some explaining to do. Make sure I'm notified when he wakes up. I almost wish he really was dead like the kid believes."

"Yes sir, I'll get right on it."

The two men took their respective charges with the help of some of the other soldiers littered about, both American and Chinese. Base camp was already buzzing with the news; an American prisoner had been rescued from the evil clutches of the Japanese. 

TBC….

Well as promised, Wufei has entered the story. As you may or may not know, the Chinese and the Americans had a very important treaty at this time. 

I hope you all liked, COMMENT please [sony_Mouse@hotmail.com][4] and that's all

   [1]: mailto:Sony_Mouse@hotmail.com
   [2]: http://www.gwaddiction.com/
   [3]: http://bamfisland.homestead.com/tattoo.html
   [4]: mailto:sony_Mouse@hotmail.com



	7. Chapter Seven

Title: It's A Wonderful War 7/

Title: It's A Wonderful War 7/?

Author: Sony_Mouse ([Sony_Mouse@hotmail.com][1])

Pairings: 1+2 

Warnings: Language, violence, AU (well OUR Universe really), different look on war (I hope).

Disclaimers: GW not mine, knowledge and info used for this fic came from James Clavell's Shogun (READ IT), Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha, David Mak's Kabuki, and Anthology of Japanese Literature. And from great people like Misa and Katu, and other's who've e-mailed me. (Whew what a disclaimer).

Archives: If for any reason you wish to read my other fics or the first 4 chaps of this one go to [www.gwaddiction.com][2]

****************************

PART 6

Chang took that moment to add his comments on the situation. "Amazing he survived this long with so few injuries, he must have been on his own to heal a bit before the military got their hands on him. His country should be honored."

"We are Chang! The country will be dying to hear this guy's story first chance they get. I'll take him to the infirmary; he seems sick, smells like he just threw up or something, not surprising, that they must have starved him or fed him their so called food, the bastards."

Chang nodded, agreeing with every word the man spoke. 

"And Chang, get this scum out of my site. I want him tied and secured at base camp. He's got some explaining to do. Make sure I'm notified when he wakes up. I almost wish he really was dead like the kid believes."

"Yes Sir, I'll get right on it."

The two men took their respective charges with the help of some of the other soldiers littered about, both American and Chinese. Base camp was already buzzing with the news; an American prisoner had been rescued from the evil clutches of the Japanese.

*****************************

Quote of the day (I forgot to add one in the last part): One cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war. -Albert Einstein 

Part 7

Duo slept soundlessly throughout the night and into the next morning. By this time the entire camp knew of his 'rescue' and was eager to find out what would happen once he awoke. 

When he got the chance, Captain Smith spent most of the time watching over Duo and looking over papers his superiors sent had him, he was after all, still in a war. 

But for some reason he just couldn't get Duo out of his mind. Maybe it was because, like many other soldiers here, he missed a good-looking woman, and the beautiful creature lying down on the cot, reminded him of the women back home. 

Naturally, Smith and his men were able to sleep with any women along the way, the Japs were always eager to sell their bodies in this poor time, and price was always right. 

But he was sick of sleeping with those slanted-eyed barbarians, and this boy, with his long chestnut hair, and round violet eyes, was a welcome change. The kid almost reminded him of his wife back home, but much prettier, and seductive in his innocent way. 

He prayed that the young pilot would thank him for the rescue, as he was the first person that helped the boy. 

The camp itself was now at a bit of a standstill. The American and Japanese governments couldn't really strike at each other for the moment, so the troops had some time to catch their breaths, though not much. 

Smith was particularly happy to have the Chinese troops with him; they'd been allies since the whole damn war had begun. The China-men were dying to get back at the Japanese for invading their country, and the Americans were still bitter about that whole Pearl Harbor incident. If anything, they would show those Japs that you don't strike the U.S of A and get away with it. 

The Japanese soldier they had found was still fairly unresponsive. He'd been slipping in and out of consciousness ever since he'd gotten here. But Wufei had made sure his wounds were partially tended to. He insisted that the soldier needed to survive to be of any use to them, and Smith reluctantly agreed. He did, after all, want to know who this spy was, and what he had done to the poor pilot. 

Smith was so lost in his musings that he failed to notice the startled violet eyes starting over at him in confusion. He immediately walked over to the table, ready to answer any questions that they kid may have.

"How are you feeling? You've been asleep since yesterday afternoon. I was starting to think you'd never wake up." 

Duo seemed to flinch at the words 'never wake up'. He remembered what had happened with Heero the other day, but honestly didn't want to think or talk about it. That way it just might hurt less.

Getting his bearings he realized he was in some sort of small green army tent that was being used as an infirmary. But that wasn't the only thing that was green, so was the military uniform he had on.

"Where's my Yukata?"

Smith blinked in surprise at the suddenly confident words. "You're what?"

"My Yukata, my Kimono? Where is it?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Where's the damn outfit I had on."

Finally understanding, Smith smiled proudly. "Oh! You mean that monkey outfit! We got rid of it the other day. We knew you'd be happy to be back in you're old greens. Sorry about the lack of rank though, you're dog tags are missing, and you didn't mention it the other day."

Duo's eyes went wide before he exploded in a mass of fury. "You got rid of it? Why the hell did you get rid of it? Hee... Hee... " Duo started to get choked up as he found he couldn't even say the Japanese soldier's name. "'_He_' gave me that. He traded it for me... with my own uniform..." 

"I'm sorry, we didn't know it meant so much to you. Look, I can get it back, I think one of the orderlies is using it to clean something right now, but it can be washed."

Duo slumped back into the bed, determined not to cry; determined to just go home like he'd wanted from the moment he crashed into Japan's soil. 

"When... when can I leave here?"

Smith had to scratch his head for a few seconds before answering, he did not exactly want the boy to leave soon. "Well, we found you at a difficult time, it won't be easy to fly you home A.S.A.P. But you hold tight, we'll get you out of this stink hole and back to the good ol' USA. Don't you worry about a thing, I'll be here to make sure everything goes well." 

Duo could only smile sadly and whisper his thanks. The funny thing was, for the first time since he'd gotten here, he was truly miserable. He didn't feel safe anymore; he felt guilty, sad, alone and just plain miserable. The officer softly grabbed his shoulder and gave him a reassuring pat on his cheek, which wasn't nearly as reassuring as it was meant to be.

Duo was about to ask the man a few questions, when the Chinese soldier from before, crashed threw the tent doors. 

"Sir, the prisoner, he's awake!" Smith's face lit up with pleasant surprise as he thanked the soldier for telling him. 

"I'll be right there Chang."

Duo however, was busy shaking his head and making sure he hadn't misheard. 

"Excuse me, are you talking about the Japanese soldier I came with?"

"Yeah, that's the one, Chang just knocked him unconscious before." Fury once again settled into Duo's dangerous eyes.

"And you didn't tell me?"

"We all thought you wouldn't want to hear about that since you seemed so relieved when you though he was dead."

"RELEIVED? I passed out!" 

But Smith wasn't really listening and stood at the tent door trying to rap up the conversation with Duo. "Listen, we'll have to talk about it later, I'm sure this must be hard for you. But I have to deal with the spy." 

"No, no we'll talk about it now. Heero's..."

"Heero? So that's his name, good to know. You stay here, I'll be back later." With that, he slammed the door and ran after the retreating form of the Chinese soldier.

Duo remained behind yelling so hard that tears sprang to his eyes. "No, you don't understand, come back here! He's not the bad guy!" 

Attempting to run after the Captain, Duo tried to stand up, but his still broken leg prevented that and caused him to crash to the floor in a big heap. 

He now felt even guiltier than when he had thought Heero was dead. Guiltier and very worried. 

This was all his fault, Heero had been right, they wouldn't even listen to him. 

Not bothering to get up, Duo took one of the nearby trays and slammed it the ground in frustration. He hated this whole situation. And now there was no way he was going to leave here knowing what kind of mess Heero was in. He didn't even want to leave him before. 

The loud crashing sound got the attention of the only orderly in the small camp, and within a few seconds, he bustled through the door with concern written all over his face. 

"Are you all right? Here I'll help you back into your cot." Duo stared up at the orderly in surprise, he had a green turban that surrounded his head and a British accent that said he was from one of the British colonies. With his turban, he was obviously Arabian. [1] 

"Listen, what's your name?"

"Corporal Winner."

"Ok, Corporal Winner, I need you to go over to wherever they are interrogating the Japanese soldier, and tell them to stop."

The young orderly seemed taken aback by the new boys words and glanced around the room rather nervously after he'd helped him back into the cot. 

"I'm sorry Sir, but that's not possible. I have no authority to do that, and would only get both of us in trouble."

Duo grabbed the boy's combats and pulled him in close. "You've got to try, a man's life here is at risk, there must be something you can do?"

"I-I'm sorry Sir, there's really nothing I can do. I have absolutely no authority."

Duo pushed the young man away and growled out loud, this whole situation was becoming worse by the second. 

The young soldier took pity in the desperate look in Duo's eyes and tried to cheer him up, not really knowing what to say. "Listen Sir, if it makes you feel any better, they're not going to kill him."

This got Duo's attention fast. "How do you know that?"

The young orderly suddenly seemed embarrassed. "I'm kinda a good 'friend' of the reporter they sent here from back America. He was talking with the Captain yesterday, and he said that they think the Japanese soldier is a high ranking man."

"What? That's crazy, he was only a field officer."

"B-but they said he spoke English?"

"He learned it himself, it's not that hard to learn, I started learning it when I was two!"

"Well either way, they won't kill him without getting information and possibly using him for ransom."

Duo leaned back against the side of the tent in amazement. "Why does this all sound familiar. It's like déjà vu."

"Sorry?"

"I got smashed over the head with a rifle, he got smashed over the head with a rifle. I was going to be used for ransom, he's going to be used for ransom."

Getting the idea, Quatre quickly jumped in. "You got tortured and interrogated, he'll be tortured and interrogated." 

"What! I was never tortured or interrogated."

"Well the officers seem to think you were." 

Duo was too shocked to reply at first. He just curled up into the fetal position; despite the pain this brought to his leg, and refrained from crying once more. 

"Damn it, damn it, damn it. This is all my fault. Heero, I'm so sorry..."

Quatre could barely understand the words spoken, because they were said barely above a whisper, but he immediately felt for the boy. If this pilot, who was 'so hurt by the enemy', really worried about him this much, then there must be more to the story.

And if there was anyone who was good at getting the true story, it was his boyfriend, Trowa Barton from the New York Times. [2]

******************************

In a tent that was slightly secluded from the rest of camp, Smith, Chang and a select few other officers where present for the interrogation of the Japanese soldier.

He already been awake for the past half an hour, but as soon as he'd realized where he was, he had become rigid and tried to seem proud. The chances of them even getting a name out of him weren't very big. 

All four officers in the room glared at him as if he had started the very war itself, eager to get revenge. The two more muscular men were acting as guards, and the remaining two as interrogators. But it was the officer who had found Duo that did all the talking.

"You may as well not try to pretend that you don't understand us. We know that you speak English."

Heero didn't even twitch a muscle. 

Leaning over a bit, Smith made sure he was breathing the words into the prisoner's face. "By the time we get done with you, you'll tell us every military secret you know, everything thing suspicious you've ever done, and what exactly you did to that boy."

Heero tried his hardest not to think about Duo right then, he was only a distraction. Every part of his being wanted to break the silence and ask how Duo was doing. But he knew that the Americans would treat him fine, he was one of their own after all.

The officer was now walking around Heero in circles, trying his best to make the other feel nervous and uncomfortable. 

"We going to find out just what you did to make him so deathly afraid of you." This caught Heero's attention and for a spilt second confusion showed in his eyes. It did not go unnoticed by his captor. 

"And once we find out every method you used on him, we going to use it on you, but ten times worse. You and your people picked the wrong country to screw around with."

Smith accented the last word with a hard punch to Heero's face, cause him to momentarily fling his head to the right. 

"We know all about you already. Your victim's told us everything we need to know." 

Heero didn't believe a word of it for a second, but was caught off guard when the Captain continued. 

"So HEERO, what did you do to him?" Again another punch, but this time to his stomach, knocking the oxygen out of his lungs, and causing him to gasp for air. 

"Did you deny him food, because you're sure as hell not getting much." Again a blow, once again to the head, followed the statement. 

Wufei stepped over to the officer and pulled him quietly to the side, whispering into his ear. "Sir, I recommend not hitting him anymore in the head. I smashed him pretty hard yesterday, who knows what more damage could do to him."

Smith nodded slowly, and quietly turned back to the waiting prisoner. This time he eyed Heero's body, remembering the state Duo had been found in. 

"What about his leg? Did you break that too?" Without warning Smith grabbed a rifle away from one of his guards and smashed the butt against Heero's leg. The leg didn't stand a chance. 

Even Wufei had to flinch as the cracking noise engulfed the small tent. 

Heero didn't even scream. He did, however, bug out his eyes and suck in his breath from surprise; it was quite painful after all. 

Smith snarled at the Japanese soldier, trying to think of other things he could have done to Duo. "What about the scars on his chest? Was that from his crash, or did YOU inflict them?" Smith rushed over and tore Heero's tunic open in one swift moment, but stopped dead in his track as soon as something flashy caught his eyes. 

All he could see was red once he realized what the thing was. It was Duo's missing dog tags. [3]

"You filthy bastard, you disgusting barbarian. You raped him, didn't you? So that's why he fears you so much."

Heero actually found himself shaking his head in denial, unable to even imagine himself doing something like that to Duo. But another quick blow to his left cheek stopped that. 

"You dared to touch him with your grimy, monkey like hands!" There was another punch to his gut, and a kick to his newly broken leg. "Fucking Jap! He's American property, you had no right even looking at him." 

Smith was about to bring another blow to his head, when he felt strong arms holding him back. 

"Sir, his head!"

"So what? He deserves to die."

Seeing that Wufei wasn't going to give in on this, the Captain took a few deep breaths and shrugged the lower ranking man off. He then give Heero and the chair one last kick, which made both soldier and chair hit the ground hard. Smith walked out of the tent without a second glance, he knew that Chang would fix everything up. 

He was a good kid, that Chang, one of the few Chinese soldiers who actually spoke English. Came from a rich family. He trusted him more than some of his own men. 

Chang aside, Smith was still upset about the Japanese soldier. Just the thought of him brought images of that monkey raping the young pilot who now lay in the infirmary. Chang was right, he couldn't kill him... yet. 

But he would make sure he paid, for everything he's done, and his damn country. 

TBC...

[1] Okay it took me FOREVER to figure out how Quatre could be in this fic without me shaving his hair off. But then I remembered that the country he was from was colonized by Britain at the time, and they used them as soldiers in both World Wars. So Quatre would just have a Turban on, plus he gets a cool British accent. (I can't BELIEVE I almost forgot about the allies, sheesh). 

[2] Trowa was a bit easier to figure out, he'd just be a reporter from the states. They had lots of those on duty all over the place. Trowa would make a good reporter and photographer me thinks.

[3] If you remember, Heero took Duo's dog tags, wayyyyyy back in the first chapter.

Okkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk so what did you all think? I'm very curious, hope I didn't change the mood too much. I would just like to say that I do NOT think all Americans are like that Captain, he jus somehow developed into the bad guy. He wasn't even supposed to be in the story, only as the guy who picked Duo up from the ground. Oh well, he's horny and hates being away from his wife, hates Japanese by this point and is jealous I guess. 

Send all comments to [Sony_Mouse@Hotmail.com][3] (or you can reply if you're on an ML)

   [1]: mailto:Sony_Mouse@hotmail.com
   [2]: http://www.gwaddiction.com/
   [3]: mailto:Sony_Mouse@Hotmail.com



	8. Chapter Eight

Title: It's A Wonderful War 8/

Title: It's A Wonderful War 8/?

Author: Sony_Mouse ([Sony_Mouse@hotmail.com][1])

Pairings: 1+2 

Warnings: Language, LOTS of violence, AU (well OUR Universe really), different look on war (I hope).

Disclaimers: GW not mine, knowledge and info used for this fic came from James Clavell's Shogun (READ IT), Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha, David Mak's Kabuki, and Anthology of Japanese Literature. And from great people like Misa and Katu, and other's who've e-mailed me. (Whew what a disclaimer).

Archives: If for any reason you wish to read my other fics or the first 4 chaps of this one go to [www.gwaddiction.com][2] You know I realized the other day that sometime after I left for Europe, my hit number went past 10 000. I'm SO PROUD AND HAPPY 

DEDICATION: TO VINCE CARTER, who just signed on to the Raptors, for 6 MORE YEARS. YES! YES! YES! YES!

***********************

Part 7

Smith was about to bring another blow to his head, when he felt strong arms holding him back. 

"Sir, his head!"

"So what? He deserves to die."

Seeing that Wufei wasn't going to give in on this, the Captain took a few deep breaths and shrugged the lower ranking man off. He then give Heero and the chair one last kick, which made both soldier and chair hit the ground hard. Smith walked out of the tent without a second glance, he knew that Chang would fix everything up. 

He was a good kid, that Chang, one of the few Chinese soldiers who actually spoke English. Came from a rich family. He trusted him more than some of his own men. 

Chang aside, Smith was still upset about the Japanese soldier. Just the thought of him brought images of that monkey raping the young pilot who now lay in the infirmary. Chang was right, he couldn't kill him... yet. 

But he would make sure he paid, for everything he's done, and his damn country.

*****************************

Quote of the day: Two quotes because their from that lovely anti war T.V Show M*A*S*H: 

"Look, all I know is what they taught me at command school. There are certain rules about a war and rule number one is young men die. And rule number two is doctors can't change rule number one." 

__

Henry Blake (Anti-war character from M*A*S*H)

"I'm sick of hearing about the wounded. What about all the thousands of wonderful guys who are fighting this war without any of the credit or the glory that always goes to those lucky few who just happen to get shot." 

__

Frank Burns (Ironic comment coming from proud, war loving character of M*A*S*H)

**************************

Part 8

Wufei was not happy with the way things were going. He was left in charge of keeping a supposedly important spy or high ranking officer alive, and everything he did to do that was thwarted by either Captain Smith continually banging him up on the head, or the other soldiers feeling the need to aggravate his wounds for fun. 

The Japanese soldier was quickly becoming the troop's punching bag. Admittedly, Wufei was not exactly found of the prisoner, he wanted nothing more than to make that young man scream for his life, beg forgiveness for what his country's done to the Great Chinese Empire. 

The Japanese should feel indebted to China. With the exception of the Ainu, all Japanese were descended from the ancient Chinese dynasty. Everything from their writing to their style of kimonos was derived from Chinese beginnings. And this was how the Japanese thanked them. 

But beating up this soldier wasn't going to make him or his country feel any better. Wufei needed answers that this young man might just be able to answer. Maybe he had some influence up top, if not a high-ranking officer, than maybe he was the son of one. It would do no good to kill him now, and the Americans needed to realize that, and learn how to torture properly. By this rate the Japanese soldier wouldn't last long. 

They needed a torture method that would keep him alive, yet bring him much pain. But Wufei knew that he really wasn't going to get much say in the whole affair. The only reason why he had any standing at all was because he was from a rich family and spoke fluent English, but he was still a very low ranking officer and was tolerated only as a token soldier. The Chinese were after all indebted to the Americans at the moment; they need their help, so a token position was better then none. 

Smith had actually returned to the prisoner late last night, and Wufei had been worried that he might try to hit him some more, but all he had done was snarl at him and rip the dog tags from the boy's throat. It must have been painful, but the metal quickly gave way, and Smith stormed out into the night. 

Normally Wufei would never have even bothered to say anything to the Japanese soldier, but the moment those tags were ripped from his neck, there was this odd look of anguish or loss that appeared on the boy's normally stony features. So after Smith had left, Wufei approached the boy, cleaning up the blood splashed all over him from before. 

"You've really done it this time. You may have had a chance to survive, be held for ransom, but not anymore. Those tags will be your undoing."

Wufei turned away to wash the clothes clean of blood in the small basin, so he almost missed the soft reply spoken to him by the silent prisoner.

"I didn't rape him."

Wufei looked at him oddly.

"You charged with more war crimes than I can count, and the first thing you say to defend yourself is about not raping the kid. You have an odd sense of priorities."

The soldier's arms had to be untied so Wufei could clean them, he knew that there was no chance of him running way, he was too weak. 

The moment his hands were free, they immediately went to the spot where the dog tags had once laid on his chest.

"If I didn't know you better, I'd almost say you missed him. But it was you who threw him away, and it was you who hurt him, so it's hardly like you deserve him. How can you be so sick to love something you hurt so much?"

Heero looked up into Wufei's eyes and somehow managed a dangerous glare in his weak state. 

"Well you don't know me, so you'll never know."

The prisoner never spoke another word all night, or the next day, and Wufei was left with nothing to say to him, why should he, he was nothing but a dishonorable Japanese soldier. However, Wufei was left with an odd feeling in his gut. 

It was not strong enough for him to feel any pity for the soldier, but it was strong for him to go seek out the American pilot. He was also quite curious how the boy was doing; the pilot seemed to have an odd effect on everyone who met the boy, including Wufei Chang.

*********************

It was late in the evening by the time Wufei made it to the makeshift infirmary. Duo was still wide-awake. 

Standing at the doorway for just a few seconds, the Chinese soldier was able to admire Duo's concerned features. The soft brow that was now creased slightly with worry, the lovely eyes that looked deeply at the cot as if it held an answer to some unspoken question, and the long hair that was like nothing Wufei had ever seen before, thick with a light chestnut colour and many other colours intertwined within. 

The pilot intrigued Wufei; the mere fact that he had survived so much impressed him, and made him pity that boy all the more. 

Duo looked up at him as soon as he entered the small tent, his eyes wide with questions, but the confident comment he made soon after nearly knocked Wufei off his feet.

"If you hurt him, if you hit him with your gun again, or kicked him with your boots, I swear, injured or not, I'll make you pay."

Not knowing what to say, Wufei denied the accusations, though he didn't offer information about Smith either.

"We thought you'd be happy to hear about him being taken away. I don't understand."

"That's right, you don't understand, you don't think either. Heero saved me, and when I crashed he healed me, in more ways than one. I owe him everything and owe you nothing." But just as suddenly as his angry rant had begun, it ended and turned into something more pleading. "I'm begging you, you have to help him. Let him escape, talk to the officers, anything. He doesn't deserve this." 

Wufei wanted to scream at the boy, of course the Jap deserved this, it was justice for what he and his country had done to him. But Wufei wisely refrained from saying so. 

"It's beyond me now. He'll be able to tell us things we may need to know to win this war. And he may just have been nice to you as a spy, have you ever considered that?"

"He's a fucking foot soldier, he spent the entire time teaching me about his country, not trying to get non-existent information from my head."

Deciding he'd had enough, and not really knowing why he'd come, Wufei made to leave, this was the last thing he needed or wanted to hear write now. But he was stopped by the pleading voice from the cot behind him. 

"No! Don't go! I'm sorry, I'm just upset. I do need your help. You're the only one I know who has access to Heero right now, or at least I think you have access to him."

Wufei stiffed and refused to turn around. "I'm sorry, I told you, it's beyond me right now. And even if I could, I wouldn't. His sacrifice will be important to this war, even if what you say is true."

"Well that's a sacrifice I'm not willing to make for this war, I've made enough already."

"Then that's something you'll just have to deal with, good night." Before Duo could even so much as protest, the Chinese soldier was out the door, trying as hard as he could to forget the look in those wide violet eyes, and to forget the surprising strength he met with behind the fragile good looks. 

Wufei had to be careful, or the boy might just convince him. 

****************************** 

The whole night and following morning, Duo didn't get a wink of sleep. He was too worried to even think of nodding off. Every moment of silence conjured up pictures of Heero. 

Duo was that to himself that it was amazing to see difference in his attitude towards the Japanese soldier. He couldn't even pin point the exact moment he stopped hating him and started… not hating him. But he had. 

And it had grown into something much more, Duo trusted Heero, like he'd never trusted anyone before, and that was an amazing thing since Heero had been someone he was brought up to hate and despise. 

Yet he didn't, he couldn't, no anymore. It was the exact opposite now. Duo was starting, or had been starting to... feel more for him, a lot more. 

But all that didn't matter anymore, Heero was going to be tortured and killed and it was all because the brown haired boy had decided to help his lost troop and save his worthless American ass. 

If only Heero had let him die, left him for the vultures, ran away for real that one time, anything so he'd be safe now. But he hadn't, he'd stayed, for him. 

Part of Duo, a very large part, was thankful that he hadn't abandoned him. IN a few short weeks, Heero had been able to change his entire out look on life and the war. But now only the guilt remained, and all Duo could ponder was at what cost did Heero give him this gift?

His only chance was to somehow get a hold of the Captain and convince him of the truth. It shouldn't be so hard to explain things to him once the Captain actually sat down and listened. But as it was, he'd only seen Quatre, his news reporter friend and that Chinese soldier who'd hit Heero on the head and was as stubborn as anyone he'd every known. The Captain was no where to be seen, and time was running out for Heero.

It actually wasn't long after this thought that Duo did get to chance to see the Captain again, it just wasn't under the circumstances Duo would have liked. 

During the same morning, a unit had been attacked and a few soldiers had been severely wounded. Since this small 'camp' was the closet thing to a base in the area, and it held at least one orderly, they were rushed them there. But chances of survival were not good. 

So the reason why Smith had once again showed up in the small infirmary was not because of Duo's being there, but because his little brother, Matthew Smith, who was one of those severely wounded. 

The Captain didn't even spare Duo a second glance, maybe not even a first one as he rushed in to see how he could help his brother survive. Unfortunately there wasn't really anything anybody could do, it was just too late. 

Quatre did try his best, but he wasn't a doctor, only a low orderly, and a young one at that. All four men didn't make it, but Matthew Smith was the last one to die. 

The whole time, Duo tried his best to block out the noise of the screaming men, the sounds of everyone trying to save them, and the sounds of Quatre yelling out orders. Even thoughts of Heero were better than this torment. 

But nothing he did could remove the sound of the once strong Captain finally giving up and breaking into tears because he'd had to witness his baby brother's death. 

After awhile, most of the bodies were moved out of the tent, but the Captain stayed protectively at his younger brother's side, apologizing for somehow preventing the one thing that life assured, death. 

After a few hours, Quatre came over and gently suggested that the Captain get some rest, have a cool drink, maybe even a hard drink. Smith just nodded sadly and stood up to leave. 

But before he could get to the door, Duo's voice was heard through the thick fog of his mind. 

"I'm sorry... sorry about your brother."

Smith actually smiled a bit at that, and made his way to where he had been sitting the day before. 

"I'm the last one you know. There were four of us before, four strapping boys. The oldest one, Chris, he was a pilot just like you, he died at Pearl Harbor. The second eldest, Danny, he died over in Europe, the Nazi's got him just over a year ago. And now Matt... I raised Matt, the others were old enough to move out, but Matt only had me when our parents died. He's too old to be my son, but he meant more to me than a brother."

"I'm so sorry..." 

Smith's eyes shot up from where he had been looking and he gave Duo a nice hard stare. "Don't ever apologize, you've done nothing wrong, you're just a victim like the rest of us here. More so, you're innocent, and you've had to witness and undergo horrible things. Those barbarians don't seem to understand that they're killing our sons and our brothers." 

Duo didn't want to bring up Heero right now in the man's time of grief, especially since he didn't seem fond of the Japanese, but Duo didn't know when his next chance would be, and he couldn't let Heero down."

"We're killing their sons and brothers!" 

Smith looked generally surprised at the comment, but then just brushed it aside. "We're only getting back at them, it's different when it's revenge. For every soldier they kill, we'll kill ten or theirs. Anyway, they started it."

Once again, the defiant gleam rose in Duo's eyes. "Then when does it end?"

"When we finish it!" Reaching into his pocket, Smith retrieved a shiny object and threw it gently into Duo's hands. "You of all people should understand that."

Staring down at the object, Duo's eyes widened in surprise. "How did you get these, I haven't had them since I first landed here and Heero... "

"The Jap had them on him. Seems like he took quite at shinning to you, and I'm sorry for whatever he did to you, I really am."

For the moment, Duo was at a loss for words. Heero had kept these all that time, but why hadn't he seen them before? Maybe he only recently started wearing them. But the fact that Heero would do something like that made Duo all the more eager to get him out alive and in one piece. Smith's words suddenly sunk into Duo's brain and he could barely contain his anger. 

"Heero did nothing to me besides save my life. I owe him so much and you all think he tried to kill me or rape me or something."

Now it was Smiths turn to get angry. "But you're afraid of him and hate him."

"I don't hate him, and I'm afraid FOR him. Why do you all think that just because he's Japanese that he was out to get me?"

"Because he was!"

"He wasn't!"

Smith immediately stood up, knocking his chair over, and took a step forward, but then quickly rethinking his actions he took a few steps back and towards the door.

"I can understand how hard this must be on you, maybe you're in shock, maybe you're too scared to admit the truth, maybe it's all repressed, maybe you just have a lot of spirit, that's ok, I like spirit in a kid. But you should be careful of what you say, you're talking about a fucking Jap here."

"Well, I'd risk my life to save that fucking Jap any day over you!" 

There were no words to express the anger that rushed into the Captain's face. But none of it was spent on Duo, the man simply turned on his heal and stormed out of the tent flap, leaving Duo to worry about just who that anger would be spent on. 

**************************

Heero felt another large burst of pain, as he was smashed to the ground once again. For no reason, Captain Smith had suddenly appeared at his holding area and had started to beat him up. There were no questions asked no threats about information made. Just words of hate and... jealousy thrown his way. 

The hate made sense to Heero; he'd seen enough of that since before the war had ever started, but the jealousy? That was something unexpected. And it took the Japanese solider a few more kicks to the stomach to fully realize just why the man was so jealous over him. 

Duo. Duo was the cause behind this. 

Oddly enough, at that moment Heero felt very separated from his body which was being thrown and kicked and punched all over the place. But all he could think about was that Duo was ok somewhere out there and was obviously still thinking of him. He hadn't forgotten about him, despite Heero's telling him to do just that. 

Heero couldn't figure out exactly why the man was so jealous over him and Duo, but he had a good idea. Duo must have stood up for him, just like he'd promised. Tried to get him free, and the man hated him for it. It was no reason to try to beat him to a pulp, but it was a start.

"You go around killing without mercy, our families, MY family. But that's not enough for you is it? You have to steal the innocence from our young men too, don't you?"

Smith had actually stopped beating him and had raised him by the hem of his shirt, slamming him against the wall to talk to him, but doing nothing more than just that. 

"He wants to save you, you, of all people. I think he may even like you, he seemed kinda happy that you'd kept his dog tags. How sick is that? You're nothing but a disgusting breed of low life scum, and that once innocent American boy has been corrupted by your evil. My whole family has been corrupted by your evil! And does the kid think about that, no, as long as your ok he's happy. In fact, he'd risk his life over you disgusting piece of shit. He said so himself. He'd rather save you then fellow American soldier, but I don't blame him, I blame you. He'll learn soon enough about what you people are really like. But I'll make sure you pay, I swear my god-damned life on it."

Throwing him to the ground, Smith watched as the weak soldier coughed up a large amount of blood. He'd survive, unfortunately. 

Heero didn't move a muscle as the Captain walked away; he probably couldn't even if he wanted to. But he was still in that out of body phase and all he could think about was the fact that Duo not only cared about him, but was also willing to risk his life for him. And Heero prayed to every Shinto god and goddess he knew of, that Duo would never have to do such a thing. 

****************

After Captain Smith had left the area, Wufei and the British orderly were called upon to clean up the mess. 

As soon as Wufei heard about what had happened, he had asked if that Captain had learned anything from the from the day's work. 

Smiling grimly, Smith replied in a surprisingly light tone. "Yeah, I learned today that it hurts a million times more when something you love is taken away then when a thousand bullets hit your body." 

Not really knowing what to say, Wufei inquired some more. "And are you going to use this information."

"I'm already working on it. Good Night Wufei."

"Good Night Sir."

TBC…

WHEW, that's done with. Only one or two more parts to go 

I BEG of you to send me comments, because I've been getting so many latly, I'be been rushing with these new parts. 

Sony_Mouse@hotmail.com

   [1]: mailto:Sony_Mouse@hotmail.com
   [2]: http://www.gwaddiction.com/



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